远程学习者能否享受到成本优势

Can Distance Learners Enjoy the Cost Advantage

当前大多数学者认为只要达到了一定的规模,远程教育将能够实现以较低的生均成本让更多的学习者获得较高质量的教育。但是也有学者对这一观点持悲观或者质疑的态度。那么我国远程教育的学习者能否享受到低生均成本优势?如果能,又是否是以得到"低效廉价"的教育为代价呢?中国社会科学调查中心关于中国家庭动态跟踪调查数据显示:在控制了学历层次和专业后,与普通教育的学习者相比较,远程教育的学习者付出了显著更少的教育支出;在控制了私人教育支出等因素后,远程教育学习者和普通教育学习者的教育满意度基本持平,没有显著差异。这说明现阶段远程教育的学习者的确享受到了远程教育的成本优势,而且这种优势并不是以教育质量为代价的。同时,实证结果还显示普通教育学习者的教育满意度对"住宿费"和"交通费"具有显著的价格敏感度,而远程教育支出中的"其他费用"项目会显著拉低学习者的教育满意度,因而需要远程教育办学机构对这部分费用进行减免。

Currently,most scholars believe that as long as a certain scale is reached,distance education will be implemented at a fairly low cost,enabling more learners to gain a higher quality of education.But there are also scholars with pessimistic or doubtful attitude.Whether China＇s learners of distance education are able to enjoy the advantage of low average costs？ If so,is it obtained at the cost of inefficiency？ The ＂China Family Panel Studies＂ survey data show that：when educational levels and majors controlled,distance education learners pay significantly less expenditure on education than learners of traditional education;and when such factors as private expenditure on education are controlled,there is no significant difference in learner＇s satisfaction towards education between traditional education and distance education.This means that currently,distance education learners does enjoy the cost advantage and this advantage is not at the cost of education quality.Meanwhile,the empirical results also show that：traditional education learners are significantly sensitive to prices of accommodation and transportation;whereas in distance education,the ＂other expenses＂ will significantly decrease learners degree of satisfaction,and are suggested to be relieved by distance education institutions.