Statistical analysis of the heterogeneous structure of the student demand to Anadolu University open education Faculty by province

Abstract

In developing countries such as Turkey with their proportionally younger population, problems of meeting the demand towards higher education are gaining importance. In meeting the demand for higher education in Turkey, Anadolu University (AU), Open Education Faculty (OEF) has an important place in the country with its open and distance learning opportunities. This system with 105 offices in 81 provinces of Turkey is carrying an important service for more than 33 years to higher education and hence to open and distance education in Turkey. Distance education students living in all geographic areas are generally belong to the poorer layers of society, with a wide age range, high motivation and with different educational backgrounds. In this study, while assessing the demand towards to (OEF) in 2012, 2013 and 2014, we used, k-means cluster analysis technique which is one of the multivariate statistical techniques; first on the basis of office, then on the provincial basis. As the result of our analysis done with the data set we used, especially we faced that Istanbul Aksaray and Istanbul Bahçelievler offices are providing services for the biggest mass of students. In provincial basis, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir were found to be in a special positions. These provinces were followed by Antalya and Bursa. When provinces with single office were evaluated separately; Eskisehir, Gaziantep and Samsun were found to be serving for the demand towards the open education system in a single cluster