Higher education today is being viewed as a tool to achieve prosperity and high living standards. It is thus looked upon as a service to the society and a powerful weapon to change the society for its betterment. Motivation plays a crucial role in learning. Motivation energizes the behavior of the individual. It also directs the behavior towards specific goals. It helps in acquisition of knowledge, develops social qualities, increases initiation of persistence in activities, leads to improved performance and develops a sense of discipline in the individual. This paper aims to compare Open Education System and Traditional Education System with respect to Academic Motivation of students towards the two types of education systems. This paper also tries to compare the academic motivation of rural and urban based students. It has been found in this paper that there is significant different in Academic Motivation among students of the two types of education systems. The significant difference in academic motivation has also been found in urban and rural based students, compared between the two systems. The paper has also forwarded some suggestions which may be considered by the policy makers and administrators of OES to help increase the academic motivation of students of OES.

Keywords

academic motivation · higher education system · open education system · rural based students · traditional education system · urban based students