New priorities and needs in distance education: Think big!!!

Abstract

The main purpose of this chapter is to give information about the Distance Education System at Anadolu University (DESA), which has nearly two million students from diverse backgrounds. By the 1990s, the number of people of postgraduate age employed in Turkey had gradually increased to over 60 percent. The shortage of funds for educational services such as adequate classroom spaces and well-qualified instructors was already creating difficulties across the country. Higher educational institutions of all types had to decide on the principles, which were to guide them in dealing with this tremendous increase in the population. In this context, Anadolu University made provocative recommendations in 1982, defended the Distance Education system as the most appropriate milieu for the continuous education of the postgraduate students of Turkey, established the first College of Open Education in Turkey, and became one of the mega universities in the world. In short, the founding fathers of the Distance Education System of Anadolu University were able to critically analyze new priorities and needs in the area by just thinking big! © 2014 by IGI Global.