Hanoi Open University (HOU) was founded on 3rd November 1993 under the Decision by the Prime Minister. HOU has been offering ODL courses since 1995. So far, 100,000 students have graduated, and 65,000 students are still attending courses.

HOU has been a full member of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) since 1999, regularly attending the annual conferences. HOU has been in collaboration with SEAMOLEC in training human resources for DE. In November, 2004 a training course on using ICT for instruction was developed for 25 participants from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. A year later, in November 2005, SEAMOLEC conducted a short training course on “self-learning material development” to Vietnamese participants from four universities: Hochiminh City Open University, University of Public Health, University of Post and Tele-communication Technology, and HOU itself. Based on the materials and capacity development from SEAMOLEC, HOU has successfully conducted several training courses on self-learning material development for lecturers of HOU and other institutions.

Realizing the importance of ICT in DE technologies, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has recently assigned Hanoi Open University as head of a consortium, including Hochiminh City Open University, University of Post and Tele-communication Technology, Hue University and Hanoi University of Education, to develop and implement nationwide e-learning programs.