The University of Great Britain will soon open, with an enrollment of 25,000 students. Within three years, 40,000 undergraduate students are expected. The instructional system of the Open University is unique: it employs a multimedia approach and stresses the interdisciplinary nature of the foundation courses. Weekly radio programs and open-circuit television programs will give support to the course work. Part-time class tutors will give regular tutorials at 250 local study centres scattered throughout the country. The Open University was established for social, political, and economic reasons: to give a second chance to adults who were eliminated by the highly selective secondary system in Great Britain. This chance can be given more economically through the Open University than through a conventional British university. The implications of teaching at a distance depends on the country in which it is happening. In developing countries it may afford a short-cut to a higher education; in the United States, where educational opportunities are more liberally provided, it may represent an alternative to be taken by those who prefer it. (MF)