The Demand Extent of Distance Education: A Qualitative Research from Managers' Perspective

Abstract

As an important method of education in the 21st century, distance education has been quite popular in Turkey in recent years. As of 2016, there are 114 state universities and 35 distance education units delivering at least one degree program in Turkey. In addition to formal education, open education has reached a significant number of students since early 1980's. Formal education, open and distance education currently compete with each other. In distance education, the level of competition is particularly high because of degrees in similar areas of study and the increasing number of universities delivering distance education programs. Branding seems like a crucial requirement due to these reasons. This qualitative study analyzes the demand problem from the perspective of distance education managers. The data were obtained from interviews with distance education managers and analyzed using content analysis. The study reveals that there is a constant competition in distance education, distance education units are affected by internal and external environmental conditions, and program type and diversity are important factors in distance education. In addition, some deficiencies in terms of legal regulations has been expressed by managers. In this paper, the problems are discussed and solution proposals are presented.