AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INSPIRING STUDENTS FOR ADMISSION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAM AT BANGLADESH OPEN UNIVERSITY: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Distance Education System is becoming very popular in Bangladesh because of its increasing demand in the community and other sectors. The study took a descriptive research design and the main data collection instrument was semi-structured questionnaire. The sample consisting of 325 respondents was drawn from prospective students called for viva-voce, the final selection stage of the MBA program of Bangladesh Open University (BOU) using simple random sampling technique. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The study discovered five critical factors that led growing interest among (MBA) distance education program aspirants at BOU of which institutional reputation was marked as the first and the most important leading factor. This was followed by the career development factor. Students’ self-development and flexible open and distance learning system were the third and fourth interest growing leading factors respectively. Another important factor that the students cited regarding their motivation to opt for admission into distance education program of Distance Education program of MBA at BOU was their academic achievement.