Socio-demographic Characteristics of Distance Learners in

Malaysian Universities

Siti Haslina Md Harizan

and Mohamad Zamhari Tahir

School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, 06010 Kedah, Malaysia

Keywords: Distance Education, Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, Online Learning, Distance Learner.

Abstract: The advancement of digital technology has triggered a growing demand for courses offered via distance

education mode among potential students in Malaysia. As a result, the socio-demographic characteristics of

distant learners have also evolved. Therefore, this study attempts to review the literature articles regarding

socio-demographic characteristics of distance learners in Malaysia based on age, gender, ethnicity, marital

status as well as their monthly salary range. Based on the sixteen articles reviewed, it was found that the

majority of the distance learners in Malaysia are female (43.75%), having age between 30 to 39 years old

(37.5%), married (25.0%), Malay, and earning between RM1,501.00 to RM2,500.00 per month (18.75%). It

is hoped that this study will give an overview of the composition of distance education students in terms of

socio-demographic factors which may be useful for decision makers.

1 INTRODUCTION

Distance education is an option which embraces the

continuous learning concept or method that consists

of several programmes for the enhancement of

academic knowledge, professional skills, and self-

improvement that calls for the distinctive

characteristic of innovative teaching methods.

Distance learners are part-time students who interact

with the lecturers from a geographical location

outside the university and who use digital tools which

include course syllabus, project paper and

assignments as well as slides presentations, shared via

a web tool or other social media (Hakan and Güler,

2012).

Currently, many public institutions of higher

learning are offering distance educational

opportunities to prospective students, especially to

working adults, owners of businesses and those who

are self-employed. The increasing number of courses

and the numerous areas of study offered through the

distance education mode have attracted the attention

and demand of many categories of students each year

(Md Harizan, Hilmi and Atan, 2015). In addition, the

changing lifestyle over the past 10 years, especially in

terms of financial resources, time and geographic

issues among learners, have made it a necessity for a

thorough investigation of socio-demographic factors

among students who have demanded for distance

learning to be recognised as pertinent (Compora,

2003).

In Malaysia, pursuing a degree through the

distance education mode is a popular choice

especially among busy working adults because of

their learning style, time, convenience, and flexibility

as opposed to on-campus education methods (Md

Harizan et al., 2017) . These terms also have been

regularly mentioned in many other studies (Compora,

2003; Latanich, Hudson Gai, and Nonis Sarath, 2001;

Murphy, 2007; Qureshi, Morton and Antosz, 2002;

Sun, Tsai, Finger, Chen and Yeh, 2008; Torres, And

and Eberle, 2010). This has made this mode of study

very attractive because it facilitates, improves

efficiency and provides time autonomy in terms of

control over the pace, study during one’s own time

and timing of studies (Latanich et al. 2001; Qureshi et

al. 2002; Selim, 2007; Sun et al. 2008; Torres et al.

2010). Based on the current trends in the area of

distance learning, it can be explained that the level of

higher education in this country has improved by

leaps and bounds and this necessitates a

comprehensive study regarding the socio-

demographic factors of distance learners who may

contribute to the current scenario.

664

Md Harizan, S. and Tahir, M.

Socio-demographic Characteristics of Distance Learners in Malaysian Universities.

DOI: 10.5220/0008892106640669

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (ICMR 2018) - , pages 664-669

ISBN: 978-989-758-437-4

Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study which

investigates the socio-demographic characteristics of

distance learners in Malaysia, which include age,

gender, marital status, ethnicity and monthly salary

range.

2 DISTANCE EDUCATION IN

BRIEF

The terms of distance education and distance learning

have been widely used in academic circles and have

some definitions that assist in giving a succinct

explanation of this mode of study. According to

Moore, Dickson-Deane and Galyen (Moore,

Dickson-Deane and Galyen, 2011), distance

education is a method of providing facilities or access

to learning for students who are geographically

distant from institutions of higher learning. In

addition, distance education consists of flexible

delivery techniques, such as online technologies, to

cater for the differing needs of distance learners

(Dorrian and Wache, 2009). Furthermore, according

to Md Harizan, Hilmi and Atan (Md Harizan, Hilmi

and Atan, 2017), distance learners can benefit from

distance education tools such as online systems as

they are able to access the course resources quickly

while joining the course of tertiary education. The use

of social media also has an impact on this mode of

study which assists many students from all

backgrounds.

As we know, advances in the use of distance

technology (Chiam and Loo, 2015; Fátima and

Cerezo, 2014; Hakan and Güler, 2012; Karadeniz,

2009; Ng and Confessore, 2011) and changes of

delivery modes from off-line to on-line interactive

web-based courses have made a difference to the

education system, as well as changes to the profile,

needs and expectations of distance learners (Latanich

et al. 2001). George (George, 2014) and Salleh et al

(Salleh et al. 2015) have explained the background

changes of distance learners who have diverse

backgrounds in terms of experience, age, socio-

cultural factors, previous educational levels attained,

occupations, as well as learning styles. In applying for

distance education courses, it can be noted that

students from various educational backgrounds have

the desire to pursue their studies because of time

autonomy and the need to upgrade their academic or

educational qualifications due to promotional and job

enrichment requirements. This is happened as in

today's educational system, opportunities are open to

anyone with desires and qualifications regardless of

socio-demographic characteristics. Although socio-

demographic factors have changed in tandem with

current economic developments, this change should

also be taken into consideration by institutions

offering distance learning. Thus, policy makers

should also do so when considering their background

characteristics, problems in their studies, attitudes,

needs, interest, motivation, expectation, study habits

and other commitments throughout the course of

study (Salleh et al. 2015).

3 METHODOLOGY

The study involves the review of the literature articles

regarding socio-demographics profile of distance

learners in Malaysia based on past studies. The profile

is categorised into gender, age, marital status,

ethnicity, and salary range per month. To collect

primary studies, the exploratory search process

included digital libraries as well as manual search of

journals and conference proceedings. These search

databases consist of the published studies in distance

education and distance learners research.

In order to perform automatic search on the

selected libraries, the search string used was:

(“distance learning” OR “distance education”) AND

(“socio-demographic” OR “demographic”) AND

“Malaysia”. The results generated research articles

covering the period from year 2002 to 2017. The

selection process was done based on thorough reading

of the collected articles so that the most relevant

studies was selected in order to address the research

questions. The inclusion criteria is papers with a focus

on demographic profiles of distance learners or

distance education students while the exclusion

criteria is papers published before year 2001, not

written in English language, non-peer reviewed

articles such as working papers and magazines and

papers not related to socio-demographic profile of

distance learners or distance education students.

4 CURRENT SCENARIOS IN

MALAYSIAN DISTANCE

EDUCATION

Distance education in Malaysia is a very popular

mode of study among adults especially those who

have permanent jobs. Despite the availability of a

plethora of studies investigating various scopes of

study and important aspects related to distance

education, less emphasis has been placed on socio-

Socio-demographic Characteristics of Distance Learners in Malaysian Universities

665

demographic profiles of distance education students.

In particular, studies on socio-demographic are

significant within Malaysian distance education

context. Therefore, in order to develop a framework

or model of the distance education system, socio-

demographic studies are important to improve the

existing education systems in order to meet current

needs. The aim is to explore the socio-demographic

of distance learners based on their age, gender,

marital status, ethnicity and salary range per month.

In fact, socio-demographic factors have also affected

the use of technology or tools employed in distance

education as reviewed by Ng and Tan (Ng and Tan,

2017), which may have some effects in terms of the

accessibility to the system, preferred communication

technology and course content.

The School of Distance Education (SDE),

Universiti Sains Malaysia is the pioneer of the off-

campus programme since it was established in 1971.

Since 1996, it has become one of the renowned

centres of study in Malaysia. Most of the lecturers in

SDE have the PhD qualification and are involved in

managing courses for each academic session. SDE

utilizes a blended learning approach, which takes into

account pedagogical and cost-effective ways, in line

with the rapid growth in information and

communication technology (ICT). It can be noted that

the internet has become the driveway for all distance

learners to access all the information, online learning

aids as well as discussion groups (Islam, Abdul

Rahim, Chee Liang and Momtaz, 2011). In addition

to the SDE in USM, other public and private

universities such as Open University Malaysia

(OUM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM),

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Wawasan Open

University (Md Harizan, Hilmi, & Atan, 2015) are

also offering distance learning programme in various

fields of study. University Technology Mara (UiTM)

Shah Alam which is the oldest and largest public

institution of higher learning in Malaysia also offers

distance learning programmes with the aim of

providing opportunities for the working population in

Malaysia to further their study as the key to socio-

economic development (Hashim, Ahmad and

Abdullah, 2010).

5 RESULTS AND FINDINGS ON

THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE

STUDENTS

This paper illustrates the demographic conditions of

students who are studying through the distance

learning mode in Malaysia based on recent studies.

Sixteen articles were finally collected and analysed.

In fact, most of these distance education students are

female students (Amoozegar, Daud, Mahmud and

Jalil, 2017; Chiam and Loo, 2015; Md Harizan et al.

2017) which is formed by 43.75% of the total articles

reviewed. Previous studies also show that most of

them are between 30 and 39 years old formed by

37.5% of the total articles reviewed (Chiam and Loo,

2015; Ismail, Gunasegaran, Koh and Idrus, 2010; Md

Harizan et al. 2017; Raghavan and Kumar, 2008;

Rasid and Zin, 2012; Rosli, Ismail, M. Idrus and Abu

Ziden, 2010) and married (formed by 25.0% of the

total articles reviewed) (Chiam and Loo, 2015; Md

Harizan et al. 2017; Raghavan and Kumar, 2008;

Rasid and Zin, 2012). In terms of ethnicity, most

distance education students are Malay students

(formed by 43.75% of the total articles reviewed)

(Chiam and Loo, 2015; Islam et al. 2011; Md Harizan

et al. 2017; Raghavan and Kumar, 2008; Rasid and

Zin, 2012) followed by Chinese and Indians.

However, only a few studies have taken the salary

range among distance education students in Malaysia

into account. The study conducted by Md Harizan et

al (Md Harizan et al. 2017) shows that most of its

respondents (formed by 6.25% of the total articles

reviewed) having a monthly salary of approximately

RM2,501.00 and RM3,500.00 while studies by

Ghani, Said, and Nasir; Ismail et al; Raghavan and

Kumar (Ghani, Said, and Nasir, 2008; Ismail et al.

2010 and Raghavan and Kumar, 2008) have

discovered that distance learners were in the middle-

income category earning from RM1,501.00 to

RM2,500.00 per month (formed by 18.75% of the

total articles reviewed).

In the study of Islam et al (Islam et al. 2011), 100

questionnaires were distributed among a sample

population and it should be noted that the response

rate for this study was 80%. Based on the feedback

received, it is clear that that there were more female

students as they made up about 78.8% of total

respondents while only 21.2% of the respondents

were male students. According to this study, a

majority of the respondents were relatively young as

they were between the ages of 21 and 23 years, which

formed 58.8% of the total respondents. It should be

noted that 46.3% of the respondents were Malays who

made up nearly half of the total number of

respondents followed by Indians (37.5%) and

Chinese (16.3%).

In the findings of Md Harizan et al (Md Harizan

et al. 2017), 88.8% of the randomly selected

respondents for this study were single while in the

study of Chiam and Loo (Chiam and Loo, 2015), the

ICMR 2018 - International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research

666

researchers obtained a total of 320 respondents

between the ages of 28 and 72 years old with a mean

of 35 years old. Based on the study, the researchers

discovered that the respondents' gender distribution

was 36.9% for male students and 63.1% for female

students. The majority of respondents were Malay

(66.3%), followed by Chinese (19%), Indians

(11.3%), and others (3.4%). It was observed that

50.9% of the respondents were married while 42.54%

were single.

Another study of Md Harizan et al (Md Harizan

et al. 2017) which involved 226 respondents

representing a 56.5% response rate that is reasonable.

Based on the demographic information obtained,

most of the students were female (62.4%), married

(53.1%), and Malay (72.1%). It was also found that

the respondents consistedof adults aged between 25

and 34 years old (65.0%) and who had a monthly

salary range between RM2001.00 and RM3000.00

(38.9%). Raghavan and Kumar’s study involved a

large number of respondents with a total of 454 valid

responses or a 83% return rate from the total of 550

questionnaires sent to the selected distance learners at

the Open University Malaysia (Raghavan and Kumar,

2008). This study found that 55.5% of respondents

were female, compared to males (44.5%). Three

hundred and fifty-four students (78%) were young

adults below the age of 39 years old. The survey also

showed that 69.4% of respondents were Malay,

13.2% were Chinese, 8.1% were Indian and 9.3%

were ‘other’. Most of the students were married

(78.6%). The findings also revealed that a very high

percentage of students earned less than RM3,000.00

per month (94.8%).

The study of Amoozegar et al. (Amoozegar et al.

2017) involved 303 respondents who were enrolled in

distance learning programmes. It could be seen that

190 female students participated in this study (about

63%). Respondents between 18 to 25 years old

formed the highest category (54.8%), followed by

respondents between 26 to 35 years old (35.1%).

From the study it could be gleaned that only 31.3%

were married compared to 52.2% or 158 respondents

who were single. However, no findings were

discovered regarding the monthly income of distance

learning students. Ismail et al. (Ismail et al. 2010)

maintained that there was no missing data in the

survey among 105 respondents. Most of the students

were between the ages of 30 and 39 years old

(43.8%). The study found that the respondents in the

second highest age group were between the ages of

20 and 29 years old (41.9%). The study revealed that

most of them were Malay (57.1%) and Chinese

(25.7%). From the findings, it could be surmised that

26.7% of the distance education students earned

around RM1,500.00 to RM2,000.00 per month.

Overall, the data from the survey showed that 70.6%

of respondents had a salary below RM2,500.00 per

month.

The study of Rasid and Zin (Rasid and Zin, 2012)

focused on measuring some personality styles among

adult distance education students and their attitudes

towards examinations. The response rate was

satisfactory with 746 respondents or 49.7%,

compared to their previous postal questionnaire

surveys. There were more male students (402 or

53.6%) than female students. It was noted that 608

distance education students were married (81.5%). Of

the total respondents, 70.5% were Malays, followed

by Chinese (20.8%), Indians (6.8%) and other ethnic

groups (1.9%). The study did not include the monthly

income earned bythe students.

Ghani et al. (Ghani et al. 2008) undertook a study

which involved first year students who were enrolled

in social sciences courses as the sample population. A

total of 1,500 questionnaires were distributed to the

respondents through their respective lecturers. Only

980 responses were usable despite of 65% response

rate. From the survey, it was noted that approximately

33.4% of the respondents were between the ages of

26 and 30 years while 29.1% of the respondents were

between the ages of 20 and 25 years. Only 15.4% of

respondents were above 35 years old. It was observed

that most of the respondents earned between

RM1,001.00 and RM2,000.00 per month (39.7%),

30.1% of the respondents obtained between

RM2,001.00 and RM3,500.00 per month, while

12.4% of the respondents earned between

RM3,501.00 and RM5,000.00 per month. The data

obtained showed that 5.9% of the respondents earned

more than RM5,000.00 per month. However, there

was no data regarding gender in this study. In short,

table 1 below summarises previous findings from

recent studies involving the socio-demographic

profiles of distance learners:

Table 1: The majority of demographic details based on

previous studies.

Demographic

factors

Demographic

details

Previous studies

done in Mala

sia

Gender Male Md Harizan et al.

(

2017

)

Female Amoozegar et al.

(2017), Chiam and

Loo (2015), Islam

et al. (2011),

Ismail et al.

(2010), Md

Harizan et al.

Socio-demographic Characteristics of Distance Learners in Malaysian Universities

667

Demographic

factors

Demographic

details

Previous studies

done in Mala

sia

(2017), Raghavan

and Kumar (2008),

Rosli et al.

(

2010

)

Age 20-29 Amoozegar et al.,

(2017), Ghani et al.

(2008), Islam et al.

(2011), Md

Harizan et al.

(2017)

30-39 Chiam and Loo

(2015), Ismail et

al. (2010), Md

Harizan et al.

(2017), Raghavan

and Kumar (2008),

Rasid and Zin

(2012), Rosli et al.

(

2010

)

Marital status Single Amoozegar et al.

(2017), Islam et al.

(

2011

)

Married Chiam and Loo

(2015), Md

Harizan et al.

(2017), Raghavan

and Kumar (2008),

Rasid and Zin

(2012)

Ethnicity Malays Chiam and Loo

(2015), Islam et al.

(2011), Ismail et

al. (2010), Md

Harizan et al.

(2017), Raghavan

and Kumar

(2008), Rasid and

Zin (2012), Rosli

et al. (2010)

Salary range RM1,501-

RM2,500

Ghani et al. (2008),

Ismail et al.

(2010), Raghavan

and Kumar

(

2008

)

RM2,501-

RM3,500

Md Harizan et al.

(

2017

)

6 DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

The findings presented recent studies’ demographic

composition of the distance education population in

Malaysia. The study did not represent the whole

population as it was concerned only with distance

learners, especially in the private universities which

offer many similar courses. From the existing

information, it is clear that studies showed significant

differences between the genders. The number of

female students seems to have been higher than that

of male students. There is a tendency of those above

the age of 30 to pursue distance learning; most of

them are married and have family commitments. In

terms of ethnicity, since most of the studies were

undertaken at public institutes, it is more likely that

Malays will form the majority among students,

followed by Chinese and Indians. Most of the

students are working adults and have an income of

less than RM2,500.00 per month.

With the increasing number of distance learning

students in the country, some important issues are to

be highlighted in line with the current economic

challenges and rising cost of living. Among other

issues that can be highlighted are the unemployment

issue, course fees, and economic pressures among

students who are married or having families and

facing difficulties in obtaining financial aid in order

to cover thecosts of study. It is hoped that this study

will give an overview of the composition of distance

education students in terms of socio-demographic

factors which may be useful for decision makers.

Future studies may also look into other background

factors of distance education students such as

personality, motivation and attitude in pursuing

studies as well as comparing socio-demographic

characteristics of distance education students in other

countries. It seems to be that the economic changes

over the past decade have affected the students and

the management of institutions of higher learning

may attempt to solve the problem by offering more

courses delivered through distance learning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia for

sponsoring the research under the grant no.

304/PJJAUH/6313202.

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