SOCIO-ECONOMICS OF THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Most research and publication on the costs of distance education at University level have focussed on the costs incurred by the institutions providing programmes. Indeed much of this research has centred on an interesting, but relatively narrow, topic - the unit costs incurred by open universities relative to those of traditional universities in the same country. Given the stated social mission of most open (and many distance teaching) universities, surprisingly little attention has been directed to the wider social costs and benefits of university distance teaching. This paper raises a number of these issues: the social demand for distance education; state support; comparative cost; who pays?; the private and social benefits of participation in distance education; the role of distance education in developing human capital; and 'social mission' of this mode of education. It is hoped that the paper will serve to stimulate interest in the analysis of social costs and benefits and in particular encourage the compilation of trans-national data to support a more comprehensive and in-depth comparative analysis.