Open Learning for Adults with Little or No Formal Education in Zimbabwe

Abstract

PCF1 // The University of Fort Hare Adult Basic Education Project (UFH-ABEP) was started in June 1992, as a three year experimental project funded by the European Union through the Kagiso Trust. It was set up as a research project with the prime objective of researching basic educational needs in the community, and developing and testing a distance education methodology which would make suitable courses available to adults with little or no formal education. In pursuing its newly emphasised role as a university for the people, Fort Hare sought ways of helping the population in its surrounding areas whose education had been disrupted by the legacy of apartheid and who were having to adapt to rapid change in very difficult times. // From the outset, however, the University of Fort Hare envisaged that the project should pave the way for a long term programme which would build on the project’s research findings and, using the distance education methodology, produce and make courses suitable to large numbers of learners at increasing distance from the university campus. Thus, the transition period from project to programme was to be marked by a change from mainly research and development activities to large scale delivery accompanied by further research and development. //