hello... I wonder what is the difference between an external student and a distant student ? the external programme in london university is classified under distance education but a friend told me they r not the same.
An External student could be thought of as one who has enrolled in a college not as a regular on-campus student but he may very well be living in the same country as the college. A distance student is one who is in different country. Then a student in the same country could also be distant(different city).
thank you etech..... i understand now that an external student is closer to regularity than a distant student. i think an external student must attend exams personally.
not quite. University of London calls all distant students external students. It issues an external degree for students who are studying at a distant. so then again it depends how these terms are perceived. my understanding could be wrong though.
I don't believe that there is necessarily any difference. Some schools may use the terms interchangably while other schools may differentiate. You may need to contact the school to actually learn how they define these terms. I think that it's also worth noting that there are many distance learning programs (an hence many DL students) that are not 100% non-residential. Sometimes people ask about "DL programs" and then are surprised to learn that there is some sort of residency requirement. Jack
