谁为远程教育付费——从普通培训和专门培训角度

远程教育作为一种特殊的教育形式,是学校教育系统和培训系统之间的桥梁。从在职培训的角度考察远程教育的特点和规律,有利于促进二者的融合。人力资本理论将在职培训分为普通培训和专门培训,认为员工愿意为普通培训付费,而雇主更愿意为专门培训付费。根据对远程教育在职学习者的调查实证发现：整体而言,远程教育普通培训的成分越多,学习者自身为远程教育支付学费的可能性越高,雇主为远程教育付费的可能性越小,这支持了人力资本理论的经典论断。研究发现,那些收入高,年龄大,工龄长,平常支出较少的学习者更有可能自己为远程教育付费。就是说,将远程教育的办学信息有效传递给那些平时消费并不太积极的群体,有利于促进远程教育的发展。

Who Will Pay for Distance Education: an Empirical Study from the Angle of General Training and Specific Training

Being a special means of education, distance education performs as a bridge between school educational system and training system. Proceeding from on-the-job training, the investigation on characteristics and laws of distance education is contributive to the combination of the two systems. The theory of human capital classifies on-the-job training into general training and specific training and maintains that employees are willing to pay for general training whereas employers prefer to pay for specific training. The findings are based on the empirical study of on-the-job learners of distance education： on the whole, the more components of general training are involved in distance education, the more possibly learners pay fees for distance education themselves; however, employers are less likely to pay distance education . These results are in line with the classical conclusion of human capital theory. The study indicates that learners are more likely to pay fees for distance education themselves if they are typical of following features： high salary, advanced age, prolonged length of service and less daily expense. In other words, distance education will be positively promoted if course design of distance education is efficiently delivered to the groups with reluctant consumption.