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Many countries with large populations rely on distance education to provide access to higher education. Countries such as China, India,Turkey and Pakistan have well established open universities that provide education to many students. Though such distance courses are regularly evaluated and researched for their innovation and student satisfaction, the capacity of their graduates to perform competently in their chosen professions is a test of their effectiveness and their equivalence with traditional on-campus university courses. This paper describes a study that has attempted to evaluate the outcome of an Open University course in teacher education through surveying the competence of the teachers who have attained their Bachelor of Education at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) in Pakistan. An extensive review of the literature established teacher competencies generally agreed as necessary for effective classroom teaching while studies that researched the value and impact of distance education were also examined. To examine the extent to which teachers who obtained their degrees from AIOU possessed these competencies.

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Prof. Dr. N. B. JUMANI works as Professor,Department of Education, Faculty of Social Science, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan. Prof. Dr. N. B. JUMANI has acquired his academic credentials for B.Ed, M.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D., and Post Doc. Prof. Dr. N. B. JUMANI has been in the field of education for over 25 years.

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