Value Judgements and Continuing Education

Abstract

This article examines the perceived value of continuing education coursesand discusses how value is related to satisfaction, value for money judgementsand willingness to pay for education. Data was collected through anonline survey at four universities in two nations. A four-factor value structurewas identified with the following dimensions: institutional image, careervalue, learning value, and social value. Differences between Austrian and NewZealand based respondents in the relative importance of the four dimensionswere observed and the possible origins of these differences are explored. Wepropose a theoretically informed model that is consistent with our observations.

Keywords

• learning
• continuing education
• perceived service value
• community education
• value for money
• satisfaction
• willingness to pay