Open Universiteit, which welcomed its first students in September 1984, is an independent government-funded institute for distance learning at university level in The Netherlands and Flanders. Open Universiteit develops, provides and promotes innovative higher distance education of top quality, in collaboration with networks and alliances. As the prime university for lifelong learning, it addresses the wide-ranging learning needs of people during their course of life, plus the need to achieve a considerable increase of the knowledge level of the community at large.