The participation of big investors in online education has made
it a new hotspot for investment in the education industry. Students
of remote and under-developed areas are the biggest beneficiaries
of online education, but online universities offer students who
failed university entrance examinations and working people the
chance of lifelong education and learning.
The Ministry of Education has approved 68 ordinary schools of
higher learning and the Central Radio and TV University to pilot
modern distance education. By the end of 2003, these schools had
established 2,027 off-campus learning centers around China,
offering 140 majors in ten disciplines, and had a total enrollment
of 1.373 million.
The gradual spread of broadband technology has also helped online
education. The China Education and Research Network (CERNET),
started in 1994, is now China's second largest Internet network,
covering all major cities of China. The high-speed connection
between it and the China Education Broadband Satellite Net, opened
in 2000, established a "space to earth" transmission platform for
modern distance education, and provided an all-round network
supporting environment for distance education.
Adult education is both dynamic and diverse. Schools of higher
learning for adults include radio and TV, worker, farmer,
correspondence and evening universities, management and education
colleges; adult secondary schools include vocational, high and
skills training schools; worker elementary and farmer elementary
schools comprise the adult elementary sector.?
