Distance Education in South Africa

In the wake of apartheid, the South African government faces the challenge of reforming its higher education system so to increase access for the country’s black citizens who represent a majority of the nation’s population, but are a minority of those who attend and graduate from university. One potential solution is the expansion and development of distance education, and specifically, to reach those who cannot afford to attend college, via technological advancements. In addition to attempting to equalize tertiary education access, some South African educators and policymakers hope that distance education will increase the number of students who pursue training in technology and business, decrease the nation’s significant skills and experience gap, and contribute to the growth of the struggling economy. This heightened need for distance education comes at a time when the nation’s traditional distance education model is being recognized as outmoded, but also when advances in technology present tremendous opportunities for creating better replacement models for distance learning. Both distance and contact institutions are working to meet the challenge, but a number of critical barriers still exist that slowdown its growth, including poor curriculum design and limited infrastructure. Additionally, the South African government has taken a conservative approach towards the proliferation of distance education programs. Despite these obstacles, South Africa and its higher education institutions and educators are active in finding a quality distance education model, and the South African government is supportive, albeit cautious, of these efforts.