Commonwealth of Learning

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation of the Commonwealth of Nations headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded at the 1987 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and inaugurated in 1988, COL's mandate is to promote and develop the use of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies throughout the Commonwealth's 54 member states. COL has evolved into one of the world's leading distance education providers and leads the international development in distance education along with UNESCO. COL is the only intergovernmental organisation solely concerned with the development of distance education.