ABSTRACT
South Africa has a long history of distance education delivery in public education, although this history is predominantly located in the country s higher education systems. The University of South Africa, for example, launched distance education programmes in 1946, awarded 180, 578 degrees between 1967 and 1999, enrolled 115, 856 students in qualifications in 2000, and is regarded as one of 11 ‘mega’ distance education universities in the world. Distance education delivery has grown throughout the public higher education system, through two other dedicated providers-Technikon Southern Africa and Vista University’s Distance Education Campus-and increasingly through the launch of distance education programmes by historically ‘contact’ higher education institutions. In recent years, this growth has also spread into private sector provision of higher education.
