In this article, the history of open university education in Finland and its position in the field of higher education is investigated. Open university education started in Finland as a small-scale regional activity in the beginning of the 1970s. When the Ministry of Education at the turn of 1980s took charge of open university education it was organised into the centres for extension studies of the universities. In the 1990s open university education expanded because of the extra resources that were aimed at it in order to reduce the youth unemployment. At the same time the mission of open university education changed from a view where equal opportunities were emphasised to a concept where individual values became dominant. The whole history of open university education has been characterised by a tension between two attributes, equality and academic values. (Contains 2 notes.)