Just over one millennium ago, the seeds of non-contiguous education were sown in Europe and North America with a simple, what in hindsight now appears, common sense idea of teaching the art and science of short-hand by post to students who lived in places remotely from their tutor. The most important variable then was the need to overcome physical distance in an era when information and communications technology was as rural and rudimentary as could ever be imagined. In short, the only brilliant idea then to teach students who are geographically isolated from their instructor was to use the mechanism of post. This eventually led to "correspondence education" appropriately depicting the fact that instruction and feedback from students were done through postal correspondence. Thanks to Caleb Phillips and Issac Pitman, correspondence education which they began in 1728 and 1843 respectively, has metamorphosed into what is arguably the most pervasive, most talked-about, and most globally recognised form of instruction at a distance. Now variously labelled as "home study", "independent or self-directed study", "distance education", and "open and distance learning", the erstwhile concept of correspondence education has become the 'bride' of education in almost every country and every continent of the world, with developing countries using it as the foundation for national development.

Long before distance education became a household concept and preceding most of the institutions now tagging on to the fashionable bandwagon of open and distance education, some institutions who became convinced of its efficacy got together in 1938 and formed the International Council of Correspondence Education – ICCE. Almost half a decade after, in 1982 to be precise, ICCE metamorphosed into the International Council of Distance Education – ICDE. From this global body has developed a powerful body of technocrats and managers of distance learning institutions called SCOP, an acronym for the Special Conference of Presidents.

SCOP meets every year to address topical issues in the practice of distance and open education, and to interact and exchange ideas with a view to improving the quality of instruction provided every student learning at a distance.

The last ICDE-SCOP meeting which was held in Queensland Australia in September 1998 has particular significance for practitioners, researchers and those interested in the development of open and distance education. Three interesting papers given by eminent scholars and managers of distance and open learning have formed this special issue of e-JIST. Taken together, the three papers appear to have provided a mission statement for contemporary open and distance learning (ODL).

Professor Taylor's paper will definitely strike a chord with many a practitioner of ODL especially with his ideas on whether the death of distance will lead to the death of distance education. Heralding the birth of global higher education economy, Professor Taylor seems to be saying that the shift to knowledge-based economies would have a tremendous impact on future distance education especially as technology has become a very dominant factor. He has therefore suggested some strategic planning for ICDE.

Professor Broad, who became the new President of ICDE from June 30, 1999 takes the ideas of the previous paper further by dwelling on the need for quality in ODL. She argues that digital literacy should be central to distance education of the immediate future. Professor Broad calls for quality assurance of online distance education and proposes a four-point model for evaluating quality of online distance education from the perspectives of key stakeholders.

The third article by Professor Tam has taken everyone back to reality by bringing to fore the central role of ODL in developing countries. He forecasts that in a not too distance future, ODL in developing countries would become even more functional and become more pervasive as instrument for national and regional development.

If one were to reduce the three papers to a single sentence encompassing all that we do aim to achieve in ODL it would read something like this:

"Open and distance learning must endeavour to, and vigorously pursue quality services just as it becomes the norm rather than the exception in the educational agents of developing countries."

This could easily become the mission statement for open and distance learning in the next millennium.

The papers are as down-to-earth as they are controversial, and as instructive as they are challenging. As a result of these and other qualities e-JIST feels that the readers should be provided with the opportunity of contributing to the debate the three papers have begun. The mission or statement or indeed both, as contained in the papers, call for their 'unpacking'. If you are challenged enough to react to all or any aspects of one or all the papers, do put "pen on to paper" or "electrons to screen" and send us your comments. Others, I am sure will love to continue the debate with you.

Olugbemiro Jegede & Som Naidu