Distance higher education and regional equality in China

Distance higher education plays a critical role in the promotion of regional equality in China by contributing to the availability of higher education. However, unbalanced regional development of distance higher education can lead to a widening of educational inequity. The study on which this article reports sheds light on the issue of unbalanced regional development of distance higher education in China, using provincial data that spans from 2008 to 2018. A dual-index method with Gini coefficient and Theil index was employed to measure regional inequality of distance higher education in China. The findings show that tertiary correspondence education and tertiary radio and television education represent a comparatively small percentage of the regional inequality in distance higher education. Online tertiary education contributes to a greater extent to regional inequality in distance higher education. Intra-regional inequality constituted a large percentage of the total inequality. Also, intra-regional inequality in tertiary correspondence education has increased in western, and central China from 2008 to 2018. Inequality in tertiary radio and television education has also increased in central China from 2008 to 2016. Intra-regional inequality in online tertiary education was marked in all three regions, while inter-regional inequality in online tertiary education decreased from 2008 to 2018.