Scale and scope economies of distance education in Australian universities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4097705 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Liang-Cheng Zhang (0000-0002-4362-6420, Griffith University), Andrew C Worthington (0000-0003-4113-9036, Griffith University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Pages | 1785-1799 |
| Publication date | 2017-09-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03075079.2015.1126817 |
| OpenAlex | W2297050247 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 33 |
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
Does Distance Education in the Developing Context Need More Research? Building Practice into Theory (Volume Two)
Modelling the impact of online learning quality on students' satisfaction, trust and loyalty
The costs of and economies of scale in supporting students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds in Australian higher education
Cost efficiency – one size fits all? A university-level analysis of economies of scale and scope in Vietnamese higher education
Administrative Intensity and Financial Sustainability
Determining scale and scope economies in Korean private universities
Distance education as socio‐material assemblage
Enlarging the Domain of Planning Education
Education for Sustainable Mountain Development
Administrative scale economies in public organisations
Rapid Development Studio
Globalisation and the Changing Functions of Australian Universities
The internal efficiency in higher education
Costs and Industrial Structure in Contemporary British Higher Education
Efficiency, costs, rankings and heterogeneity
Can distance education increase educational equality? Evidence from the expansion of Chinese higher education
Economies of scale and scope in e-learning
An analysis of costs in institutions of higher education in England
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,83 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |