Sunday, August 26, 2007

Distance Education

I recently was having a debate with a colleague of mine about the admissions process in Distance Education in India. My colleague was of the opinion that there is no upper limit to the number of students who can enroll via distance education while the economist in me was suggesting otherwise. I was suggesting that it’s not economical viable. This would be a case of limited resources (teaching faculty and administrative staff) being allocated without a limit? (Number of applicants)

The universities do apply rationing instruments, which limit the number of enrollment. Below is a list of a few such instruments. Some are obvious, some not so obvious and some apply to specific cases only

0) Screening test
1) Number of application rounds per year
2) The Last date for applying
3) Fees
4) Reservation (Caste based or otherwise)
5) Duration of the course
6) Prior academic qualification
7) Relevant work experience
8) Age limit

Even though the university claims to be an "OPEN UNIVERSITY" (no entry criteria), in my opinion, the combination of the above instruments does seem to limit the number of applicants.

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