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Title of Thesis
Cost Effectiveness Comparison of Distance Education in Indonesia,
Bangladesh and Pakistan |
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Author(s)
Seema Naheed |
Institute/University/Department
Details
Department Of Distance, Non-Formal and
Continuing Education, Faculty Of Education / Allama Iqbal Open
University, Islamabad |
Session
2009 |
Subject
Education |
Number of Pages
322 |
Keywords (Extracted from title, table of contents and
abstract of thesis)
Cost, Effectiveness, Comparison,
student’s, satisfaction, Distance, Education, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Pakistan |
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Abstract
The significant
objectives of this study were; to examine and calculate the total
and average costs of each selected item, to calculate student’s
opportunity costs, to analyse student’s satisfaction with programme,
to analyse the cost effective measures taken by academicians for
each of three programmes and to assess eleven years admissions and
completion and to analyse main objectives of programmes.
It was descriptive study based on analysis and comparison of B.Ed
programme at Bangladesh Open University (BOU), B.Ed at Allama Iqbal
Open University (AIOU) Pakistan, and degree level/SI teacher
training programme at University Terbuka (UT) Indonesia. It used a
simple non-linear input and output design of “economic approach” of
cost effectiveness analysis. The instruments that were developed to
collect data about costs and other relevant features of programme
were questionnaires. There were two questionnaires. The first
questionnaire was administered to the management of programme. The
elements in first questionnaire were;
1-Enrolment, 2-completion, 3-costs of examinations, 4- costs of
radio and television transmissions, 5-course presentation costs
(tutorial and workshop), 6- costs of printed material,
7-departmental/ establishment costs, 8- cost of building meant for
this programme in the main campus of university, 9- objectives of
programme and analyses about achievement of objectives,
10-benrolment and completion since 1992 to 2002.
The selected output variables for cost-effectiveness analysis were;
(a) Completion rate (b) Student’s satisfaction with programme. (C)
The most important objectives of each selected programme were
analyzed separately. Independent variables for data analysis were
university, gender, age, qualification at the time of admission,
profession and who paid the opportunity cost of students. The
dependent variables for data analysis were student’s satisfaction
with programme and student’s opportunity cost.
The purpose to add some queries about the preliminary information
was to obtain some of background knowledge about programme.
Unit cost per pupil was the criteria for cost effectiveness
analysis. The cost function applied for data analysis was;
Unit cost = Fixed cost + Variable costs / N
The results showed that enrolment was the highest at AIOU during 11
years. The highest average costs of examination were; 93.36 (UT),
costs of course presentation were 93.46 (UT), costs of printed
material were 98.97 (BOU), and departmental costs were 78.76 (BOU).
Radio and television department produced programmes for students of
BOU. Average cost of broadcast media was .851 at UT. As far as unit
cost per student is concerned it was the lowest at AIOU. The mean
scores of total opportunity costs were 411 for UT, 227 for BOU and
458 for AIOU. Student’s satisfaction with programme was highest at
UT and lowest at BOU. The result showed that unit cost was lowest at
AIOU and programme was the most cost effective due to economy of
scale.
Income from fee of each programme and item wise costs should be
maintained in documents so that the assessment and comparison of
programme may be feasible for management and researchers. The cost
of examination is high at UT as compared to the other two
universities. It is better to work out to lower down the cost of
examination at UT. Costs of broadcast media at AIOU are in the
margin. AIOU may spend on transmissions for all students of B. Ed.
The costs of print and Department at UT are the lowest. AIOU and BOU
can benchmark for lower down costs of print and department.
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