Gestión universitaria en la educación superior a distancia: heterogeneidad de modelos para aplicar al caso colombiano

Abstract

With the evolution and impact of information and communication technologies, educational processes have been transformed at all levels, especially in higher education. This transformation has significantly fostered the development of distance education as an alternative strategy to contribute to the social and economic development of the country, allowing more people to access it and thus reducing limitations of time and space. For this reason, there has been a considerable increase in institutions offering programs under this methodology, which includes traditional distance education (blended or semi-presential) and virtual education (e-learning). These modalities face challenges such as expanding coverage, diversifying programs, improving access, and ensuring quality through effective management. Considering these aspects, this work establishes guidelines that Colombian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can apply to enhance their management of distance higher education in strategic, core, and support processes, based on the characterization of this training methodology, applicable management models, and a set of systematized criteria. To this end, qualitative research paradigms and tools have been employed to identify the predominant characteristics of distance higher education, analyze the heterogeneity of representative university management models for this methodology, and present criteria that enable institutions to assess the level of development of their management practices.