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VANCOUVER - The 14th triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (14CCEM) in Halifax gave COL renewed mandate and pledges of increased funding over the next three years.
"While buoyed by major increases by some of the developed countries, we are also heartened by the increases made by small countries such as Cameroon, Dominica, Samoa, and Tonga and large but developing countries like India and Nigeria," said COL's President and Chief Executive Officer, Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan. "It is a fine testament of appreciation to the work of this small agency - our ambitious $9 million target seems to be largely met and we accept now the responsibility to ensure that our work continues to merit the confidence that has been expressed."
The Commonwealth of Learning was created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. International headquarters were established in Vancouver in 1989, hosted by Canada and the Province of British Columbia whose combined support has been critical to the viability and growth of the organisation over the years.
Ministers and ministerial representatives from 26 of the 45 participating Commonwealth countries took the opportunity to speak in support of COL. Many pledged significantly increased funding with Britain leading the way - it announced that it will triple its contribution to £1 million annually over the next three years while continuing to provide additional support for specific projects such as community radio broadcasting in Africa.
In their final communiqué, Ministers commended COL on its achievements over the last three years." They also endorsed COL's Three-year Plan 2000-2003 and "confirmed their desire to give effect to the decision of Heads of Government to endorse an annual core budget of CDN$9 million."
The communiqué also noted that:
Many delegations recorded their gratitude for the assistance provided them by COL and encouraged COL to be bold in its interpretation of its mandate in the face of the rapid transformation in education and training as a consequence of the information and communications revolution. They expressed appreciation for the analysis COL had provided of the trends in virtual education and encouraged it to look for innovative ways in which it could help local institutions strengthen their presence in this environment, perhaps by responding more positively to appeals for COL to become directly engaged in the process for accreditation and credit recognitions as well as quality assurance. Ministers recognised the efficacy of distance educations systems, and re-iterated their keen desire to see these deployed in the interests of teacher training, basic education for all, skills development and improved access, especially for girl children and women.
High Level Review Group
Education Ministers "strongly endorsed" COL's submission to the Commonwealth's High Level Review Group. It recognises that education and training are assuming greater rather than lesser importance in the new millennium; that cost constraints, demographic trends, and rapidly expanding requirements from formal education to professional upgrading, skills development, and life-long learning outstrip the capacity of conventional approaches to respond; that the technological and communications revolution is affording increasingly attractive alternatives to address these needs; that these technologies integrated with the methodologies of open and distance learning can offer practical and cost effective solutions; and finally that the Commonwealth has in COL an ideal instrument to help members re-engineer their education systems to take full advantage of these new opportunities.
In their own submission to the High Level Group, Ministers of Education recommended urgent efforts to increase education programmes to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate its impact on education. Their Halifax Statement on Education in the Commonwealth also calls for the Commonwealth to strengthen education programmes to prevent conflict and to mitigate the impact of conflict and natural disasters on education.
A virtual university for small states?
The Halifax Statement on Education in the Commonwealth specifically requests COL to pursue the establishment of a virtual university to serve small states. This idea was identified during the meeting of the Ministerial Committee on "priorities for small states."
Largest Commonwealth education meeting
Canada and the Province of Nova Scotia hosted over 300 delegates from 45 countries, three UK overseas territories and 21 observer organisations, attending the ministerial conference, and a further 400 attending a parallel symposium and trade fair organised by the Nova Scotia Department of Education in partnership with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, the Government of Canada, the British Council, the Commonwealth Secretariat and COL. It was the largest CCEM ever and the second such event held in Canada. COL joins Commonwealth Ministers of Education in expressing "deep gratitude to the Government and people of Canada, and in particular the Province of Nova Scotia, for the excellent arrangements made for the conference and for the warmth of hospitality."
COL's Three-year Plan
COL's Three-year Plan 2000 - 2003, which, after wide consultation, was presented to Commonwealth Ministers of Education in Halifax, focuses on four key roles for COL:
- As a catalyst for collaboration , COL seeks to marshal the wealth of experience, talent and resources available for the Commonwealth's benefit.
- As a resource for training, COL will focus on developing national capabilities in distance and open learning.
- As a capacity builder, COL will assist countries to capitalise on distance and open learning to develop capacity in other areas.
- As an information/knowledge provider, COL will enhance its ability to gather, store and disseminate information and co-ordinate a new Commonwealth-wide network of knowledge providers in distance and open learning.
The Plan outlines COL's efforts to diversify and increase funding sources. COL International plays a major role in this strategy through contracts with international development agencies and with countries outside of the Commonwealth.
The Plan positions the Commonwealth to embrace flexible learning options to address formal educational needs as well as the expanding needs for non-formal education in areas such as literacy, numeracy, public health and hygiene, HIV/AIDS, life-long learning, labour market training, and the plight of children at risk: orphans, refugees and those living in the streets.
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