Synopsis Education is an organic entity. It has evolved to meet the emerging needs and demands from time to time. Starting from the 'Gurukul System', it graduated into the 'Classroom System'. With the realisation that education is a resource for socio-economic development, the demand for life-long learning, Education for All as well as higher education brought education to the centre stage as never before. This generated pressure on the higher education system. Fortunately, the developments in the art and science of communication and its application to classroom instruction came in and ushered in the 'distance education' as a viable mode to cater to large numbers. The ivory towers have been thrown open and education has changed from craft to technology. The transaction of educational curriculum using technology marked the inauguration of 'New Era' in education, which essentially constitutes the 'third stage' of development in education. The emergence of knowledge as a resource - that is renewable and can compensate for the absence or inadequacy of any natural resource -stands out as the event of the twentieth century. The use of tools such as computers, CD-Roms, E-mail and Internet has now enabled offering of flexible learning, which is learner-centric. In these years of rapid changes, focus has shifted to the information highway, and open and flexible learning has come of age with possibilities of strategic partnerships between institutions. The virtual classrooms and virtual universities are viable realities of the future. With the capacity to adopt flexible teaching-learning strategies, providing high quality education and ensuring equity in educational opportunities is a distinct reality. Though the open university system has a history of only about 30 years, so much has happened so soon that leading experts in the field now believe that open/flexible education is the 'wave of the future'. This book, originating from the keynote and special addresses of Professor V.C. Kulandai Swamy, describes and analyses critically the growth and development of Open Distance Learning system to address issues of access and equity, coordination and management, collaboration and networking, funding and cost-effectiveness. The author strongly believes that 'we must do today's job with today's tool; if we do today's job with yesterday's tool, tomorrow we would be out of business'. The present volume is dedicated to this belief.