On the characteristics of the demand for online higher education

Despite the growth of e-learning, in Italy the number of students enrolling in university on line courses still remains very low. In this paper we report on the methodology and the results of a survey carried out at the Institute for Educational Technology of the Italian National Research Council, involving 1100 students in the final year of secondary school. The investigation was aimed at analysing how high school pupils perceive e-learning, how many of them really consider on line courses a valid choice for their university study and the reasons of their vision.