开放大学作为一种理念和实践,其实已经有五十来年的历史了。在探索和实践这一理念的进程中,中国曾是先驱者。考察世界知名开放大学的成功创办与发展,无不用立法作为其必要前提和基本保障;反观中国电大发展的路径,其艰难曲折的原因正在于立法的缺失。因此办好中国开放大学,必须立法先行。本文就立法层次、立法内容、立法重点等进行了论述。 Open University as a concept and practice, in fact, has 50 years of history. China was a pioneer in the process of exploring and practicing this idea. Investigate the successful establishment and development of world-renowned open universities, all with the legislation as its necessary prerequisite and basic guarantee; the other hand, the path of development of China’s TV University, its difficult twists and turns are due to the lack of legislation. Therefore, to run China’s open university, we must legislate first. This article discusses the legislative level, the content of the legislation, the legislative focus and so on.