juels275

Just got some spare time & thought I might do another degree or distance learning course.

Aviator

There are a number of distance ed degree courses. Athabasca University does quite a few, more unis are starting to offer online course.

R I C H

All options are listed here: http://www.cvu-uvc.ca/english.html

I work for Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning. Drop me a line if you've any questions.

tallperson

Or you could still do a UK distance learning course like I am

NoreenC

I did some online distance courses in the UK last year and early this year before I came to Canada. I'm thinking of doing one again. Do you do Open University ones or another one? I've done a couple of online ones with Oxford Continuing Education Dept. and have enjoyed them. Any one that you would recommend?

Oink

There are 1000s of distance Ed courses provided universities all over the world, mostly they are not worth the paper the degree is printed on. The quality and general purpose of the OU or the University of the Air as it was originally named, is hard to find these days. Most don't even have minimum residency requirements.

JAJ

University of London (External Program) is available worldwide and fairly well respected.

DigitalGhost

They are an absolute pain though and going from my experiences with them so far (I have an application currently outstanding) I wouldn't really recommend them.

The fees are pretty reasonable admittedly, especially in comparison to North American equivalents, but they are a particularly unfriendly and pompous lot and they charge extra for everything. Plus they openly admit, even when I visited their campus in person, that they do not offer much in the way of student support so those looking for the type of courses which offer tutor advice and assistance on call and a helping hand from support staff every now and again may need to consider looking elsewhere.

DigitalGhost

Do you possibly have sources for that?

It's true that the commonly referred to 'Open' and 'Online' degrees are probably not much use, particularly for the purposes of immigration but a named degree from the OU is usually considered to be just as good, if not in some cases better, than a degree from a UK former-polytechnic and even countries which require a Bachelors minimum for a work permit, for example Japan, will accept an OU degree in the same way as one from a brick institution.

Northernlass1

My BSc is an 'Open' BSc from the Open University which was accepted for immigration...I was the principle applicant and now live in Ontario. CIC didn't count my named Masters degree as I hadn't completed it when they sent the 120 day letter.
The OU are recognised throughout many of the Canadian Provinces as they work closely with professors at Universities in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan as well as at Athabasca etc, the focus being on elearning.

DigitalGhost

That's really useful information to have, thanks.

If you don't mind me asking, which category did you apply under and how long ago was it? And did you just include your degree on the points analysis as a 3 year or 4 year? Because when you start talking about distance or part-time education the points calculator gets a little complicated.

Edit: Sorry, just seen that quite a few of those questions are actually answered in your signature.

Caitilin

The OU was originally supported to give people out and working, who quit their school, a chance to go back and get a degree.

I don't see what getting an education and residency have to do with each other at all.

Caitilin

They liked my open one just fine. So did my postgrad institute.

DigitalGhost

I think in North America especially there are a lot of diploma mills which will basically hand out a phD after people attend a short 3 week course or a BA for just passing a couple of nonsense exams online. They have nothing whatsoever to do with the OU though which is fully UK accredited and seen as much higher than some other brick colleges privately ran institutions which offer Bacherlors and Masters degrees in the UK.

Northernlass1

My BSc was made up of 360 points, that's 120 points a year if it was done at Uni full time. I actually completed it in 3 years with OU but could have taken 6 years to do it. Either way it's a 3 yr BSc (Hons) to CIC!
I applied FSW route.