Effects of Student Support Services on Academic Achievement of Distance Education Students of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract

The availability of educational opportunities in developing countries has become a major challenge, which is noted for its highest population growth rate in the world(Carr & London, 2019). High populace growth rates in developing countries is because of a various of components, most remarkably, the occurrence of high birth rates (Haub & Gribble, 2011). The endeavours of different governments to expand access to education for its kin have demonstrated fruitless throughout the years. Problems that governments face in response to the rapid surge in education include the cost of putting up classrooms, providing modern scientific laboratories, providing residential facilities for teachers as well as salary for lecturers (Ahmed, 2011). In spite of the fact that most students lean toward conventional education, a significant number of students likewise incline toward distance education. Distance Education is certifiably not a new concept. It began in the late 1800s, at the University of Chicago (McIsaac & Gunawardena, 1996). This institution was the first to establish a correspondence programme between the teacher and learner at different locations. Policies pursued by colonial and post-colonial regimes on the educational front have been enormous. University education started in Ghana during the colonial era. The first public university in the country was established in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast, now called University of Ghana, Legon (University of Ghana, 2009). Since then there has been eight additional public funded traditional universities. Nonetheless, for the past two decades, public universities in Ghana had rejected many applicants who otherwise are qualified by virtue of the National Accreditation Board's entry requirements to pursue university education in the country. Averagely, about 49% of qualified candidates gain admission to the state funded universities, making demand-supply gap of about 51% (Oduro, 2008). For example, in the 2005/2006 academic year just 55% of qualified candidates were conceded into all the Public Universities in Ghana (Oduro, 2004).In the past, the following distance education programmes were run by national and international bodies in Ghana. These included the following; The Correspondence Programme by the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) University of Ghana; Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture (KITA) Home Study Centre, the Rapid Results College of the Trades Union Congress, the Pupil Teacher Modular Course and the Rural Radio Forum (COL. 1992). The term 'Distance Education' was instituted in 1972 by the International Council for Correspondence Education (Moore, 1990). Moore (1990) characterized Distance education as institution-based, formal education where the learning bunch is isolated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are utilized to connect students, resources, and