Three kiosk operators with the Lifelong Learning for Farmers project were recently named National Virtual Academy for Food Security and Rural Prosperity (NVA) Fellows in a ceremony hosted by the President of India, His Excellency Dr. Abdul Kalam. The NVA Fellows are individuals who are recognised for serving as torchbearers for the knowledge revolution in rural India.

On 11 July 2005, 140 people were awarded NVA fellowships at a function in New Delhi. Calling the programme "a celebration of our rural core competence," Dr. Kalam told recipients they were being empowered to promote rural transformation. The NVA Fellows will be supported through capacity building and networking. The initiative is part of Mission 2007, which aims to establish knowledge centres with modern information and communications technologies (ICTs) in every village in India by 2007.

Three of the NVA Fellows are kiosk operators in the Lifelong Learning for Farmers Project in Tamil Nadu. This innovative pilot project is a partnership among COL, the State Bank of India, n-Logue Private Limited and a consortium of universities. The kiosks, which are managed by n-Logue Communications and financed through loans from the State Bank of India, provide farmers with access to ICTs for distance learning, information gathering and communication.

The NVA Fellows from the Lifelong Learning for Farmers Project are Mr. A. Gnanakkulandai of Uppukottai, Ms. K. Bharathi Sala of Thrukalakudi and Mr. G. and Ms. Murugaveni Chandrasekaran of Govindanagaram.

On 1 January 2006, UNESCO launched a ten-year teacher training initiative to dramatically improve teacher training capacities in 46 Sub-Saharan countries. The programme is designed to assist countries to synchronise their policies, teacher education and labour practices with national development priorities for Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals through a series of four-year cycles.

Of the 17 countries participating in the first cycle of the Initiative, five are Commonwealth countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia. COL has been active in all of them, providing support for the use of open and distance learning (ODL) and information and communications technologies (ICTs) for teacher education. COL's ongoing support of teacher education and school development in these five countries will be a major focus in its next Three-year Plan 2006-2009.

Samoa Polytechnic has become one of the two institutes under the umbrella of the National University of Samoa (NUS). It is now known as NUS's Institute of Technology, while the programs currently run by the NUS will form the Institute of Higher Education. The roles of the two institutes will remain the same and an integrating Open Flexible Pathways between the two institutes will be in place to encourage students, especially in the TVET area, to continue studies towards an academic degree when they complete a TVET program. Their academic results in TVET will be accredited towards academic studies.

As a graduate of the Samoa Trades Training Institute in 1971, before it became Samoa Polytechnic 1993, I found that only a very limited number of us have had a chance to continue academic studies to the post-graduate level. This was only possible because of our own initiative, and sometimes we had to fight for it. Almost all the annual scholarship awards offered by donor countries and organisations were for academic studies only. Although it has now changed slightly, there is still nowhere near enough support for TVET students, considering the increasing number of students graduating from TVET providers. Thus, the graduates from TVET still have the mentality that they are only studying to get a job and that is it. Yet as we all know, there is quite a high number of graduates from our institutes that may not have done well in the secondary school system but it is amazing how some of these students open up after spending one or two years doing a TVET course. Their future potential and high level of confidence is incredible.

So as a TVET graduate, I am supportive of our merger with our university; to bring down this wall that TVET graduates had to put up for years and open up further educational opportunities for all TVET students regardless of what entry level they had to meet.

I believe we can use this model in the development of TVET in the Pacific to change the perception that TVET is only a second choice when you cannot make it to a university, but rather that it is another option for future education.

The Diploma in Environmental Education developed by COL and the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in India is growing in popularity. Navodaya Vidyalaya Sansthan, a Government of India establishment with more than 450 rural residential schools across India, has enrolled a group of its teachers in the Environmental Education - or "Green Teacher" - programme. Navodaya expects to enrol a new group of teachers in the programme every year. This innovative distance education programme is aimed at broadening access to environmental education and contributing to sustainable development.

The initial presentation of the Green Teacher course is being evaluated by two consultants, Dr. Vasant D. Bhat and Dr. B. Phalachandra from India's National Council for Educational Research and Training. COL and CEE are now working on converting the Green Teacher course to an online course and making it available throughout South Asia and Africa.

U.K. Open University (UKOU) has launched an International Fellowship Programme, funded by donors to the OU Foundation. Applications are welcomed from professionals working in higher education - academics, administrators or civil servants in universities, non-governmental organisations or government ministries - who wish to carry out a project at the Open University in the U.K. The only stipulation is that their project should be clearly linked to open, online or distance education in a higher education setting. Fellows will spend three to six months working in a faculty or student support role at UKOU. They will work alongside colleagues and share experience of open and distance learning (ODL), with the ultimate objective of completing their project and returning with a productive outcome that will benefit their home organisation. Travel, accommodation and subsistence are fully funded by the programme.