Distance Education in China

In today's world, education is considered as a key factor to development of countries. Countries, which have tried to standardize development indicators in education through appropriate programming and investments, have also devoted social and economic growth to themselves. For more than one hundred years, distance education has been recognized as a helpful and active approach in presenting educational courses to students who are not able to participate in traditional classes in school or university. Approaches for presenting distance education have been taken into consideration as a fundamental process in reducing obstacles to access educational opportunities. In recent years with progress in the information and communication technology, the use of distance education has increased remarkably. This way of presenting has also changed the nature of the student population. Distance education has been increasingly converting to an acceptable form of learning. Countries which have realized the strong points of this type of education have taken advantage of this educational approach in development; China is one of these countries. This article aims to describe the history, necessity, objectives, types and future of distance education in China.