Athabasca University: Canada's open university

THE PRIMARY DRIVING FORCES moving Athabasca University forward are its motto Learning for Life and its mandate to remove barriers to university-level education. By seeking to provide flexible education and serve nontraditional learner groups and needs, the university is very different from traditional campus-based institutions. Athabasca University (AU) is re-creating itself into a twenty-first-century university through its adoption and use of technology to expand the opportunities for its stakeholders. The growing needs of students, academics, and staff to learn and work in an integrated online environment is reflected in the institution’s movement to a virtual campus with easy access to learning assets. Students are allowed to learn on their time at their pace in their place. For many, this is their only opportunity to access tertiary-level education.