ABSTRACT
An important educational goal in Sweden has been to increase access to higher education for adults whose study opportunities have been limited because of residential distance from university towns, fulltime employment, or family responsibilities. The author recently surveyed a population of distance learners and identified certain salient characteristics of this group. Women in particular tend to indicate a desire for general education as their motive for entering or returning to university. Men frequently reported that the distance course had contributed towards a change in occupation and, in some cases, a better job. Women who had not been previously employed credited the course with enabling them to find work. A most interesting and somewhat unexpected finding of the survey was that many students credit distance study as having had a positive effect on their feelings of self-esteem. Therefore, women more often than men increase their self-esteem when succeeding in education, whereas men evaluate their studies in relation to their jobs.
