Is it corruption, or just an established business model for poorly paid educators to increase their revenues?
replyThey were not so poorly paid - I was a senior analyst/programmer (and did some teaching), quite reasonably compensated, and the lecturers would get quite a bit more than me.
replyBut if you want to substitute "established business model" for "corruption", go ahead. I must say that not all of them were bad.
Its both
replyI started studying at UNISA in the mid-90s. It was a distance learning university, with fees literally 1/10th that of a in-person university. They had more current students than all the rest of the SA universities combined.
replyRoughly half the textbooks required were published by UNISA press, with authors being the lecturers themselves. With one exception (Delphi programming), all the books published by UNISA press were free with the course.
It's astounding that +3 decades later, it is still not profitable for any other university to do this!