Newspapers, radio and television increased our freedom to receive information. Today the Internet makes us all world-wide publishers. These three processes of democratisation converge in the democratisation of higher education. Today help in understanding the world can come from many sources but most, such as governments and the media, cannot be independent of commercial and political interests. The individualistic and disinterested nature of the true university is unique.
Understanding means going beyond information and knowledge.
It means knowledge acquired with the sense of responsibility for how it comes to be known that can make it the foundation for action. Universities help people to understand a world that includes the local community, the nation and the earth as a whole. In a changing world our understanding needs to be constantly renewed. When the Berlin Wall fell life changed dramatically for the people of Central Europe so some of them went looking for help in understanding their new world. A group of Hungarian leaders concluded that the mission, methods and materials of the Open University would be of the greatest assistance and so began a historic collaborative venture.