IN the machinery of nation-building, education is what sets a country’s cogs in motion in scaling greater socio-economic heights. It is a fact that in the catalytic wake of education, a country records significant progress in economy and standards of living.
Another accelerant in building a nation is technology. In making knowledge far more accessible than before, technology is proving to be a critical tool in democratising education. 
Using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as the backbone of its operations, Open University Malaysia (OUM) is forging new pathways in providing education to the masses. The country’s first provider and national referral centre of open and distance learning (ODL) is making it possible for people from all walks to pursue education to the highest level.
OUM’s learners are the university’s testimony and a positive indication of the tremendous interest Malaysians have in higher education and lifelong learning. Teachers, civil servants, members of the armed forces, retirees, homemakers, and employees of private companies are among those who make up its learner population. From 17 courses in 2001 to 49 courses to date, and a number of graduates set to increase six-fold by its third convocation in December 2006 from the 456 during its first convocation in 2004, OUM has steadily grown from strength to strength in contributing towards the development of human capital in the country.
Quality education supplemented by continuous efforts to better its systems has been the hallmark of OUM’s success. The practice of benchmarking against more established ODL institutions and adopting their best practices have enabled OUM to become “learner-centred,” providing its learners a learning environment where they can excel.
The awards and recognitions it has received are also a testament of our efforts to create and enhance the technologies as well as opportunities for ODL and higher education in Malaysia. Recently, myLMS (Learning Management System)  platform succeeded in obtaining the MSC-Asia Pacific ICT Merit Award for Best in Education and Training in December 2006. Additionally, OUM also received an award from Technology Business Review under the category of Excellence in Education Management - Provision of Continuous Education in September 2006.
At the international level, OUM’s printed modules have received the Excellence for Distance Education Materials - Learning Skills for Open and Distance Learning Award from the Commonwealth of Learning, a facility in Vancouver, Canada in November 2006. Concurrently, OUM received the E-Learning Recognition from the Eszterházy Károly College, Hungary also in November 2006. Another global achievement is the Best Paper Award garnered by OUM at the Asian Association of Open Universities Conference held in China in October 2006.
OUM’s “blended learning” approach, which allows flexibility in the learning process, is created to ensure that quality education is at the forefront of OUM’s strategic thrust. In addition, OUM’s Centre for Instructional Design and Technology (CIDT) creates a variety of learning tools to cater to their students’ multiple learning needs, based on the most current “best practices” amongst ODL institutions.
Lastly, utilising modern and up-to-date technologies, the learners can yield maximum benefit. They can participate in online discussion forums with either their tutors or peers — and access OUM’s Digital Library — which has a collection of 40,000 e-books and 18,000 e-journals.