===Introduction===
With over 604,000 undergraduates in 1986, this university is one of the two largest distance teaching universities in the world besides Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in Bangkok and it is a mega university (Peters, 2001, p.213). Founded in 1979 after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the Central Radio and Television University (CRTVU) campus is in Peking with twenty-eight Regional Radio and Television Universities (RRTVU) in the provinces (World Bank, 1999). Radio and television are the main media for broadcasting TV recordings of lectures and teaching programs to hundreds of thousands of students (viewers) in factories and offices.
The Ministry of Education employed the function of this distance education system as a means of “improving the general cultural and scientific education standards of the whole nation�? (World Bank, 1999). The Chinese government recognised the advantage of distance education of educating more people quicker and at a lower cost (China Education and Research Network, 2000). In addition, millions of engineers and secondary-school teachers were trained with this method to expand the Chinese economy.
The university have made significant achievements in less than ten years. In 1991, two million Chinese had already graduated with one-and-a-half being diploma holders. This is attributable to the fact that CRTVU has made it possible for more secondary school graduates to obtain tertiary education. Moreover, there is a fairly low drop-out rate of 30 per cent due to favourable study conditions such as the aspect of interlinking work and distance education (Peters, 2001, p.214).
===Why is CRTVU different from other distance education universities?===
Firstly, the educational-policy’s purpose is to force China’s development and modernization (Yuhui, 1993, p.272). Secondly, companies grant leave for students to attend television classes as study tuition is given during work schedules (Yuhui, 1993, p.273). Students are assigned by companies to attend distance education classes. Thirdly, the university has a mixture of adults with work experience and school-leavers awaiting job opportunities (Yuhui, 1993, p.273). It introduces favourable study conditions by integrating work with distance education and hopes to extend access amongst China’s population to higher education.
Fourthly, teaching academic programmes are transmitted to students via the television mainly (Yuhui, 1993, p.274). Where most distance education universities incorporate printed teaching materials as the basis of studying, CRTVU emphasises more on the use of television rather than printed materials. Most importantly, television is utilised for its benefits as an effective disseminator of content. Well known professors hold their lectures in front of television cameras before being broadcasted to study groups throughout China (Peters, 2003, p.20).
Lastly, group learning is encouraged as oppose to individual learning in the western world as great things were expected from learning in collective environments (Yuhui, 1993, p.274). Distance students from other universities mainly work through their printed study syllabus individualistically, however learning groups are required to meet several times a week and, teaching and learning knowledge is mass disseminated through television (Peters, 2003, p.20). Students are required to emulate the environment of a normal learning classroom by being actively participative. Peter (2001, p.218) states that the mass dissemination of knowledge and “interactive personal communication in the dynamics of a learning group�? constitutes the special features of teaching and learning provided by CRTVU.
===References===
China Education and Research Network (2000) “China Central Radio and TV University (I),�? retrieved October 16, 2005, from http://www.edu.cn/20010101/21803.shtml
Peters, O. (2003) “Models of open and flexible learning in distance education�?, in S. Panda (ed.) Planning and Management in Distance Education, London and Sterling, VA.: Kogan Page Limited, pp. 15-27. ISBN 0-7494-4068-6
Peters, O. (2001) Learning and Teaching in Distance Education: Pedagogical Analyses and Interpretations in an International Perspective, London: Kogan Page. ISBN 0-7494-3594-1
World Bank (1999) “China: Its Distance Higher-Education System,�? retrieved October 15, 2005, from http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/Technology/broadcast/tv-02.html
Yuhui, Z. (1993) “China: its distance higher-education system�?, in K. Harry, M. John, and D. Keegan (ed.) Distance education: new perspectives, London and New York: Routledge, pp.261-275. ISBN 0-415-08941-7
===Contributors to This Entry Include:===
GuoguangKim 23:32, 25 Oct 2005 (EST)
