A comparative analysis of the academic performance of distance and on-campus learners

Özet

\r\n Despite the critical role of knowledge in economic development and growth in the global village, African universities, like the University of Swaziland, continue to face unprecedented challenges such as high demand for university education; dwindling financial resources to maintain and expand physical infrastructure such as lecture rooms and theatres, offices, auditorium, laboratories, libraries, lecturers’ house, and hostels; recruit and maintain quality personnel; and invest in new information and communication technologies (Makhubu, 1998). Yet, developing countries, like Swaziland, need highly skilled people with tertiary educational background. In Swaziland, for example, the last national survey on human resource needs indicated that 10% of the labour force fitted the definition of educated and trained human resource and the majority of technical professionals (70%) were expatriates (Government of Swaziland, 1986).\r\n