<論文>中国高等教育におけるインターネット教育の導入と展開に関する一考察

Abstract

The forms of distance education involve the earliest correspondence courses, radio courses and telecourses as well as online courses. In Japan, the scale of online learning in higher education has not expanded so much. However, in China, there are more than 8 million students attending formal education programs online nowadays. This paper discusses the online education provided by Chinese higher education institutions since the end of the 1990s, to consider the causes of the expansion by analyzing the history of policies for promotion and current situation of online education in China. Since China claims to be a socialist country, it offers diverse educational opportunities to adults and workers actively. Especially adult higher education which involves correspondence education and broadcast education has been institutionalized and greatly developed since the 1980s. In the context of these circumstances, online programs in higher education were introduced at the end of the 1990s. Although the number of universities carrying out the programs is less than 70, the number of students continues to increase, and now the programs have become the largest scale of part-time higher education. The reasons of the expansion of online programs in higher education in China include the policies for promotion of the construction of lifelong education system and the education informatization. Besides, it is believed that the programs can bring benefits for both higher education institutions and learners, which also promotes the development of online programs in higher education in China.