Limited data are available on the costs of different media. The research that has been undertaken makes it possible to identify four characteristics of a successful programme. These are likely to have obtained a good balance between the various different elements in teacher training and an integration between them. Within that balance, there needs to be an adequate emphasis on teaching practice. Assessment systems need to reward the qualities that are seen as important within the programme.
Programmes are likely to benefit from the use of a combination of different teaching media.
All four of these features are likely to increase rather than reduce the cost of a programme but, by raising its effectiveness, may be justified on educational and economic grounds. Costing techniques have been developed that can be used both by planners and managers. In carrying out cost analysis it is necessary to identify all costs, annualise capital costs and reduce any cost to a single constant currency where necessary. On this basis it is then possible to calculate unit costs and derive a cost function which makes it possible to see the effect of increasing or reducing enrolment. A thorough economic examination of a programme needs to consider how it should be financed and the role that student fees, if charged, should play in this.