He founded five universities in North Rhine-Westphalia during the 1970s . He also startedand initiated Germany 's first distance learning university at Hagen ( modelled on the Open University in Britain ) . As part of the mass-education campaign of the 1970s , he founded five universities , each at different sites , in North Rhine-Westphalia and initiated Germanyâ s first distance learning university at Hagen ( modelled on the Open University ) .