Abstract:

INTRODUCTION

The resources required for open distance learning (ODL) are human, physical, financial, and technological supported by cross cutting issues. This paper focuses on quality assurance and self-assessment as part of the cross cutting functional areas at Southern University.

The Southern University (SU) envisions being a World Class University for the advancement of humanity, serving as a cradle of knowledge and excellence. To achieve this, the University will endeavour to generate and disseminate significant quality knowledge backed by its core values, upholding unbendable and uncompromising standards that contribute to national and global development. The university`s vision is “To be an icon of academic excellence in all disciplines and natural resource based professions in sub-Saharan Africa”.

With the onset of peace in many African countries after many years of instability and insecurity, with the democratization of many African states following decades of totalitarian rule, and following years of corrupt and inept administrations, there is now an acute consciousness of the wasted years of African prosperity. One of the highest casualties of misrule has been education. Education became one of the lowest priorities. Investment in education across the sector diminished.

SU like any other Open Distance Learning(ODL) Universities has observed that with peace and democratization in Zambia, there is population growth, rising prosperity, a thirst for knowledge, and a need to bridge the skills gap, all in the context of rising expectations and diminishing resources. For many, however, for whom life circumstances have rendered university attendance a distant dream, have yet another opportunity and this is the reason SU has come into being.

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