What’s behind the Explosive Growth in Distance Learning Education?

Support is emerging globally that is pushing for growth of distance learning education. From market research firms, government agencies, public and private companies to venture capital firms – those companies that invest in new and emerging businesses – all agree that distance learning’s future is very bright, and poses a good investment opportunity as well.

All this translates into a bright future for anyone looking at long distance learning to accomplish their career, educational, and learning goals. Chances are if there isn’t a program in place today for your specific needs, there will be one very soon. The perfect storm is brewing for distance learning education in a very positive way. Several market factors are presented here, along with research findings from research and government agencies that show that distance learning education is here to stay and will one day in future surpass traditional classroom attendance approaches to learning.

What’s driving Distance Learning Education growth?

Consider the following statistics from International Data Corporation on the market for distance learning – these figures and others are making many traditional colleges and universities re-vamp their courses and online degree programs to make them available online 24/7.

Considering that long distance learning education is a convenient way for adult learners who have to balance obligations such as family and work, there are over 133 million U.S. adults or 66% of the adult population, who have Internet access today. That’s over half the entire U.S. population and serves as a strong incentive for colleges and universities to re-vamp their programs to support this untapped educational market.

According to International Data Corporation, over 90% of college students access the Internet, with 50% accessing the Web daily, and this is on a global scale. Colleges and universities such as Capella University, Grand Canyon University, Walden University, University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, Argosy University have found that to stay relevant to their traditional students, they have had to create online and long distance learning programs to stay up with their learning needs.

Over 87% of four-year colleges offered distance-learning courses in 2004, up from 62% in 1998. According to International Data Corporation, 25% more colleges and universities added distance learning programs between 1998 and 2004.

By 2004, 2.2 million degree-seeking students are enrolled in distributed courses – CAGR of 33%. The growth of distance learning on a global scale has the attention of companies as well – they plan on spending $272B in the next five years on in-house training (e-learning)and education programs, according to International Data Corporation.

51% of all online courses worldwide have online discussion forums in 2001, growing to 65% in 2005. This is a sign of how quickly the Internet’s performance is improving around the world. The bandwidth required to support online discussions is great news for distant learning. Now even the most geographically remote student can get the education they want.

The implications are clear. Distance learning education is growing rapidly and has been fortunate that many countries teach English in addition to other languages. What’s next on the horizon of distance learning education is offering courses and degrees in multiple languages.

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