What must be considered in administering examinations and credit issues?

Most distance education systems, perhaps because their clientele consists primarily of adult students who study part time, evaluate learning using a combination of continuous assessment and final examination. Continuous assessment is formative, and usually determined by performance in written assignments.

Kota Open University, in India, awards 70 percent of a student's final mark for the final examination and 30 percent for assignments. Al Quds Open University, in East Jerusalem, awards 15 percent on the basis of assignments, 35 percent for the midterm examination, and 50 percent for the final examination. Like most distance learning institutions, Al Quds sets up examination centers all over the country; institutions have greater confidence in controlled examinations than in continuous assessment because of the problem of quality control among the tutors who grade assignments. At the Open University (UK) the normal practice is to give 50 percent for continuous assessment and 50 percent for the final examination.

Many countries have developed credit transfer systems to enable students to transfer credit earned for distance courses in conventional institutions. In India the Distance Education Council has worked out a commonly agreed pattern of levels and credits; for example, the standard amount of study for a credit is 30 clock hours, and a first-degree program equivalent to the three-year degree program of a conventional university carries 96 credits.

In Europe national credit schemes have been developed in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. And efforts are under way to establish cross-national academic currency, notably the European Community Course Credit System.