Distance education and dual-mode universities: an Australian perspective

Dual-mode distance teaching universities differ from their single-purpose counterparts, such as the great open universities, in one critical dimension. They are not generally established to serve distance students. That is typically a commitment entered into at some point after the institution is operating conventionally with on-campus provision. The argument here is that as dual-mode provision is challenged in various ways, not least through the impact of new technologies, the commitment to serving students who are genuinely at a distance from the physical campus is at some risk in the institutions involved.