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A public institution must view its policies within the broader context of its jurisdiction. No institution can operate in isolation from others in its vicinity or from the national or provincial government. Nor can an institution, perhaps particularly a new distance education institution or program, operate without reference to such wider issues as the educational and political climate or the role of private institutions and other organizations in providing or supporting distance education and training. In formulating policies, institutional leaders must ask themselves what constraints or expectations these factors place on them and their institutions.
By the same token, the national or regional governments responsible for both distance and conventional education institutions must make clear to them what these constraints and expectations are and what will be done to enable the institutions to meet them. Governments do not always fulfill this expectation, of course.
In considering how they fit into the context set by national policy, institutions need to ask themselves such questions as these:
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