In August 1999, the Minister of Education invited Multimedia Technology Enhancement Operations Sdn. Bhd. (METEOR), a consortium of 11 public universities in the country, to set up an open university. The move by the Minister led to the establishment of Open University Malaysia (OUM) in August 2000 followed by its official launch on 26 August 2002 by the then Prime Minister of Malaysia YAB Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. Adopting the motto ' University for all ', OUM believes in the democratisation of education; giving everyone a chance at self-actualisation and fulfilling their potential.