African Counsil of Distance Education

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Kizmet, Mar 22, 2017.

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  1. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I don't know that it does.

    (1) 5 years of a doctoral program at UNISA can cost that, or close - and 5 or more years for a distance doctorate at UNISA is by no means uncommon. One thing we have to agree on: UNISA is about as low-cost as a good school gets, tuition-wise
    (2) At what University in Canada do you pay $16K or less for a Doctorate? I don't know of any.

    If you think $16K US is expensive for a Canadian, ask yourself - how expensive would that amount be for Zambians? Average net monthly salary there is $1,367 US.
     
    Phdtobe likes this.
  2. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    Oh wise one! You do put things into perspective. I’ll be happy paying 16k as to paying 21k. But 21k Cdn is not too bad. It looks the rate for Zambian is lower.

    Memorial Phd rate is not too bad. The rate in Quebec was not too bad either. But I have not research canadian schools in a very long time.
     
  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Yes, But I think you'd have to go to B&M school. I'd think that finding a distance doctorate in Newfoundland or Quebec is not very likely. And yes, Quebec fees are sometimes less than half what you might find in other parts of Canada. That goes back to when the Catholic Church entrusted control of Universities to the Government. The Church held the Government to a promise to keep fees as low as possible ... forever.
     
  4. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I wish the school websites were better. A lot of them look very amateurish. And it's not even that, really. They never have enough information posted. Ironically, many of them offer degree in IT, CS and whatnot.
     
    Johann likes this.
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Agreed. I guess in some of the cases, it's very difficult to maintain an Internet presence if the electricity is unreliable. Conflict, corruption or a few years without rain can do that - or worse.

    I sure wouldn't sign up for Web-design!
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2018
  6. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

  7. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

  8. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  9. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I was curious to see the cost. Imagine my surprise, when I clicked the FAQ page and got "you are not authorised."

    I searched around to here: https://www.ucc.edu.gh/sites/default/files/CoDE%20Advert.pdf

    I believe:

    (1) The cost, including tuition, is 280 Ghanaian cedis for a year! That's ~$59 US!
    (2) The program is designed for Ghanaians. Only method of payment is cash through various Ghanaian banks. The writeup states that these programs would be of interest to Teachers, prospective teachers, civil servants, bank employees - in Ghana.
    (3) The 2-year Bachelor degrees require HND (Higher National Diploma) or equivalent.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2018
  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    It might be very difficult (as I think it should be) for anyone outside the country to fight their way onto the books of this Ghanaian program. This is a limited-resource deal and a foreigner would be taking an opportunity away from a Ghanaian, were he/she to get a place in this program.

    From reading, I don't think that foreign enrolment in this program is possible; nor should it be allowed to happen. The situation is not like South Africa, where the Government subsidizes enrolment of foreign distance students and the Universities do OK regardless of where the distance student lives.

    I believe they only have room at $59 a year for their own - and I respect that.
     
  12. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    I am not saying that this university should offer education to international students, but if it can offer a quality education and can attract international students then it should. My guess it would be in the country’s best interest to export education, instead of mining or forestry, or exporting unprocessed raw resources.
     
  13. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Not at $59 a year! That would be economic and professional suicide! They are making a finite resource (they only have so many instructors, staff, resources) available cheaply to their own people. And that's vital as a first step. Maybe in time Ghana could develop distance ed. programs and commit resources to export them at a reasonable price - not $59 a year! The programs would need to be seen as inexpensive in other countries while still bringing a good, profitable return to Ghana.

    Once the home market is served, that is. They need to do that first. This particular program does not exist for you, me, and every other rich (in comparison) North American to take advantage of. Doing so = greed.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2018
  14. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    The university will need to know it cost recovery for distance education and be able to set its own strategic price point. On-campus programs, the metric is a bit different, full cost recovery is not the first priority when it comes to foreign students.
     
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  15. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I get why you say this, but they're not dumb. If the rules allow foreigners and they get an unmanageable number of them, they'll see that their higher education services have value in the international marketplace (a good thing) and raise prices accordingly.
     
  16. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    No they're not dumb -at all. They know what to do - I just wanted to make sure YOU knew that I knew that THEY knew what to do. :) They know to serve home market first and how to figure what they can charge foreigners as soon as they have resources to admit them to any programs - distance or campus. They'll know ALL that going in - no waiting for (or admitting) unmanageable numbers. Furthermore, I was talking about distance ed - and so were you, I believe - not foreign students on campus. But if you want to talk about that - well, here's a bit on that subject too.

    Full cost recovery from foreign on-campus students seems to be first priority, here in this part of Canada. But that's OK. Here in Ontario, schools charge foreign students nearly 3 times the domestic rate, to make up for the Government not kicking in a per-student subsidy, as they do with the home crowd. The college where I am right now has a huge enrolment of foreign students. Mainly South Asians.

    And yes - I'm sure Ghana's education leaders know how to come up with a price structure - once they can commit resources to serve the offshore distance market. Not till then...
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2018
  17. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    But Canada does not charge full cost recovery to foreign students. The tuition for foreign students is higher but it is not full cost recovery. Full cost recovery is not the first priory. Being able to charge foreign students more, and also the prestige of having foreign students.
     
  18. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    In effect, then, Canadian students are paying for that prestige. If the Canadian schools aren't getting full cost recovery from foreign students, they have to charge domestic students more than they would otherwise. I'm not sure I like that. I'd like prestige better if it didn't cost so dang much money, I guess.

    Anyway - my point remains. It's pretty obvious that right now, Ghana needs to concentrate its finite resources on educating their own - and by these offerings, it looks like they're doing a good job of it. I'm sure that when they have educational resources to export, they'll do a great job of that, too, and other nations will benefit. Ghana was a fascinating, rich, wise and prestigious kingdom seven hundred years ago. May such prosperous days come again, for its people!
     
  19. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    A thousand apologies. I attributed this quote (wrongly) to Phdtobe. Sorry, Steve (500x). My apologies, Phdtobe. (500x). There - that's a thousand.

    Sufficient unto the day are the mistakes thereof. Maybe I should go home, now...
     
  20. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    If a lot of (international) people were to begin to make inquiries it might give them the idea that they have something of value on the world market. My guess is that they would like to do this (if at all) in a step-wise fashion, ramping up slowly. In all likelihood it will be years before they get to that point, if ever.
     

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