Scale and scope economies of distance education in Australian universities

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4097705
AutoresLiang-Cheng Zhang (0000-0002-4362-6420, Griffith University), Andrew C Worthington (0000-0003-4113-9036, Griffith University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen42
Número9
Páginas1785-1799
Fecha de publicación2017-09-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaStudies in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03075079.2015.1126817
OpenAlexW2297050247
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas33

Despite compelling qualitative arguments for scale and scope economies in university-level distance education, as distinct from traditional class-based face-to-face instruction, there is little rigorous quantitative evidence in support. In this paper, we explore the scale and scope economies of distance education using a multiplicatively separable cost function and a sample of 37 Australian public universities over the 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. The results suggest strong overall scale and scope economies and product-specific scale economies for distance education. Further, the economies of scope for distance education are increasing with mean output, suggesting an increasing cost benefit of producing distance education in conjunction with traditional class-based face-to-face teaching. This provides an important implication: when allocating places for different modes of attendance or considering further expansion of student numbers, there should be a priority on distance education as a means of achieving significant cost savings

Attendance · Business · Distance education · Economic growth · Economics · Economics education · Economies of scale · Economies of scope · Geography · Higher education · Pedagogy · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Higher Education Research Studies · Innovations in Educational Methods · Online and Blended Learning · Marketing