Barriers to remote rural students access of distance education support services offered by the Centre for External Studies at the University of Namibia

摘要

This research studies and documents the barriers to remote rural students' access of distanceeducation support services offered by the centre for external studies at the University of NamibiaThe intent of the researcher is to investigate the question: What barriers do remote rural studentsface when accessing student support services offered by the CES-UNAM? The purpose of thestudy is to promote the growth of open and distance learning in the area of student support forstudents in the remote areas of Caprivi and Kavango regions in Namibia. The aim of theresearch is to provide evidence that open and distance learning students in remote rural areasface academic, administrative and logistics, personal and natural disasters as barriers as theystudy through the Centre for External Studies, University of Namibia.Six students were interviewed and studied over a period of two months. The students werefollowed to their places where interviews were held. Several written documents from studentsregistering their grievances with CES-UNAM were requested from the office of the Director andwere reviewed and analysed. The results thereof were recorded in thick verbatim as studentspersonally engaged themselves in narrating the barriers that they face each day during their studyperiods. The results showed that Open and Distance Learning institutions in the world shouldpractise and enhance sound academic, administration and logistics management systems to helpstudents in remote rural areas.CES-UNAM has a challenge to ensure that students in remote rural areas are adequatelysupported. The researcher recommends that studies in the area of student support in should focuson their transactional, interactional and social contexts in order to enhance their opportunities tocontinue with their studies.