It is a great pleasure to introduce this special issue of JL4D, which continues our features on Leaders in Distance Education around the world but also has as its main focus a celebration of the 8th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF8), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 2016. Organised by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in partnership with Open University Malaysia (OUM), PCF8 attracted 475 participants from 59 countries to discuss “Open, Online and Flexible Learning: The Key to Sustainable Development” through focussing on four sub-themes: Quality and Equity; Access and Inclusion; Efficiency and Effectiveness; and Technology and Education. This selection of the papers presented, now revised and updated, provides an illustration of the breadth and depth of discussion at the Forum.