Financial management of distance learning in dual-mode institutions

Abstract

Dual-mode universities operating in a tough economic environment need to be able to answer a range of questions concerning their use of different teaching modes accurately and with confidence. Only an activity-based costing approach will provide them with this tool. Cost studies of other distance learning projects may provide benchmarks against which they can make judgements about their own costs, and the generalised lessons gained from recent experience may help them weed out non-viable options. However, studies on distance education costs undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s are now largely irrelevant to the issues facing those working in dual-mode systems in the 2010s.