Distance Education: A Global Perspective

THANKS TO A 72 percent increase in the number of distance education programs between 1995 and 1998, the U.S. Department of Education calculates that 1.6 million students are enrolled in 54,000 on-line classes. But how widespread is distance education outside the U.S.? How global is the World Wide Web when it comes to on-line education?

In Hong Kong, on-line education within the country is limited mainly to the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK), which is the government-established provider. About 28,000 students in Hong Kong study on-line under the auspices of the OUHK, but tens of thousands take distance education courses from overseas providers, according to David Murphy, acting director of the Centre for Research in Distance & Adult Learning at OUHK.

While most distance education in Hong Kong is of the hybrid variety, with much use of print, CD-ROMs and on-line components are becoming increasingly common now that distance education has finally gained credibility. The barrier that remains has more to do with the Asian work ethic.

“Probably the most significant obstacle is the difficulty that students face in finding the time to cope with the required workload,” says Murphy. “Hong Kong citizens work very long hours and find it very hard to put aside the required hours to succeed in their studies.”

That doesn’t sound much different from American concerns. According to a 2000 survey done by Capella University, 42 percent of the 667 working adults polled said that busy schedules might keep them from continuing their education.

The challenges are vastly different in South Africa, where distance education holds great promise in offering accessible education at a time of great instability in the country’s education system. According to a presentation called “Soaring with Eagles and Scavenging with Crabs” by Christine Randell of the South Africa Institute for Distance Education, the typical distance education learner in South Africa has changed. Of the 60,000 students studying at a distance in 2001, 80 percent were black, and most were unemployed. In contrast, seven years earlier, 80 percent were white and employed.

South African distance education has traditionally been delivered by satellite television, though on-line offerings are increasing. However, only one-in-fifteen citizens has Internet access, according to a 2001 report from World Wide Worx. In contrast, half the populations in the U.S., Canada, Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong were on-line.

Internet access is also a challenge in Latin America, where only 7.5 percent of homes have a computer, and only one-third of these are connected to the Internet, according to Beatriz Fainholc, director of CEDIPROE http://www.cediproe.com.ar/, a distance learning foundation in Argentina. Another obstacle in South America is resistance on the part of the universities to distance education, which is perceived as a threat to the traditional elitism of a college education. Despite this the Latin American market for distance education is expected to triple from $3.4 billion in 2000 to $9.2 billion in 2006, with Brazil leading the way, according to a 2001 report from Pyramid Research called “Distance Education Demand Rising: A Business Case for Brazil and IBM-Lotus.”

Perhaps the most techno-happy country in the world is Finland, where there are more cell phones than people. Internet access isn’t as widespread, but in 1999 about one-third of Finns were on-line. The country’s distance education efforts are coordinated by the Finnish Association for Distance Education, which offers distance education through continuing education at ten public universities and colleges. Today, about 20 percent of students are involved in distance education, the majority of them women. Students can receive a bachelor’s degree on-line but so far cannot complete an entire graduate degree. Most contact in distance education programs is conducted with the use of audio conferencing, though videoconferencing and on-line communication are growing.

Australia is home to the world’s best distance education institution, according to the International Council for Open and Distance Education, which in 1999 awarded the Institutional Prize of Excellence to the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba, Australia. The university’s vice chancellor, Peter Swannell, called Southern Queensland “a regional university with an international mission.” Seventy-five percent of its students study off campus, with more learning “offshore.”

This is hardly surprising since Australians could first earn degrees off campus in 1911, though such programs didn’t really take off until the 1970s. Since USQ began to offer distance education in 1977, enrollment has grown to include more than two-thirds of its 21,000 students. Delivery today is usually on-line, a transition from the use of print, audiovisuals, and “teletutorials,” all of which were used before 1996; many students earn graduate certificates and degrees, as well.

This mirrors a national trend in Australia, where nearly 35,000 college students were classified as “offshore” in 2000, according to Australian Education International. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that overseas distance learners taking classes from Australian universities (plus Australian residents teaching overseas) accounted for $193 million of Australia’s export industry in 2000-2001.

Distance education is not yet universally available, of course. However, it is clear that the global distance education marketplace is expanding rapidly, much to the delight of administrators and students.