The open university study form in the University of Tartu is generally working well – lecturers, students and academic coordinators are mostly satisfied, although some issues like relation between tuition fee and the quality of studies, limited access to learning materials, narrow range of subjects raised and should be considered further.

More than 50% of students assess open university study form with highest rating – students are most satisfied with the location of the lectures and with the availability of study coordinators. Nevertheless, the students are far less satisfied with the price-quality relation of studies (0nly 33% of students estimated it to be good or very good).

The lecturers (more than 80% of them) are highly satisfied with the expertise and willingness of the study coordinators. However, the lecturers tend to be dissatisfied with the schedule of the lectures.

The project offers some recommendations to improve the efficiency of open university study form:

  • The open university should provide more precise information and offer more counselling for students about time planning, arrangement of studies and different opportunities of study load.
  • More focus should be put on the assessment of candidates for different programmes – potential students’ studying motivation, ability to study chosen curriculum and language skills. Also should be clarified whether students’ expectations about open university study form are in accordance with reality.
  • The instructions for determining lecturers’ work load should be clarified, and also the necessary literature and more feedback should be provided for students.
  • E-studying methods should be used more actively in order to widen the range of elective courses.
  • It is important to ensure competent lecturers with necessary expertise and motivation for high quality teaching in open university form.