COL Anniversary Honours: Recognising institutional achievements

Contact North/Contact Nord, Canada

The Adjudicators recognised an institution which has successfully used a wide range of tailored programming, course delivery and support methods to meet the educational needs of students from diverse cultural, socio-economic and language backgrounds in Northern Canada. Supplementation of the local school curriculum and innovative provision of post secondary access has contributed to youth population retention in many isolated communities. Trades training for women, teaching and consultative services for deaf children and their families, and technological training programmes for network instructors indicate the way in which local and specialist needs have been successfully addressed in a challenging context.

The National Open School, India

The Adjudicators acknowledge the seminal pioneering role played by the National Open School in the introduction and development of out of school education in India and in the Commonwealth. The sheer size (four hundred thousand students), range (883 study centres) and scope of this institutional venture are impressive enough, but when it is recognised that 55% of the enrolments are from women and from other socially and physically disadvantaged groups, then the NOS’s claim to high achievement in reaching those who might not otherwise have participated in education and training in India is indisputable.

The Open University of Hong Kong

The Adjudicators recognised an exceptional level of achievement which has extended and strengthened over 10 years of rapid growth. Included in this record was an initial and sustained commitment to serve the needs of thousands who had no access to conventional post school education, a recognition of the special requirements of the disabled and a determination to introduce the advantages of electronic delivery and support systems without penalising those lacking access to them.

COL President’s Awards: Recognising excellent distance education materials

Indira Gandhi National Open University, India
for the course entitled, Education and Training of Elected Members of Panchayats Through Distance Mode

Recently, through an amendment to the Indian Constitution, over three million persons, more than one-third of whom are women, were elected to various tiers of local self-government bodies, or panchayats, throughout the country. These persons lacked preparedness to take on the tasks required and this was perceived as a major constraint in the processes involved in carrying out their responsibilities for social transformation. The Indira Gandhi National Open University accepted the challenge to educate and train these persons through the distance learning mode, and adopted a multi-media approach which is suitable for the target group of rural population which have varied learning styles and preferences.

The course was viewed by the adjudication committee as a unique course that empowers through knowledge by meeting a large and important need in a very appropriate and timely fashion.

This set of learning materials comprises a certificate programme in small business management targeted at either existing small business owners and/or managers, or those who will require these skills in the future. The materials are presented in a learner-friendly fashion, using a multi-media approach which includes print, videos, and on-line delivery.

The committee viewed this submission as a very comprehensive set of distance education materials which is designed to enable small business people to establish and successfully maintain their own small business enterprises, thereby providing empowerment through knowledge.

COL Learning Experience Award: Recognising learners’ experiences

Ms. Irene Paulsen, Solomon Islands

Ms. Paulsen completed her Masters degree from the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India. She worked entirely from her home in the Solomon Islands, while raising her family and maintaining her responsibilities as Head of the Distance Education Centre at Solomon Islands College of Higher Education. She is an example to students everywhere, of the opportunities provided by distance education to further one's education while making an effective contribution in one's own society.

Honorary Fellows of COL: Recognising individual achievements

  
COL Chairman, Dr. H. Ian Macdonald (left), confers
an hFCOL on Professor Kulandai Swamy

Professor V.C. Kulandai Swamy, India  

There are not many people in the world who walk tall and are at ease both in the world of literature and engineering. India’s Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was privileged to have such a man as its second Vice-Chancellor from 1990 to 1994. Professor V.C. Kulandai Swamy is an eminent scientist of immense erudition and capacity to turn scientific principles into practical solutions for global good. The good he did has to do with water. Hydrology is the engineering field that Professor Kulandai Swamy specialised in and he contributed to its progress in South Asia. The ‘Kulandaiswamy Model’ of Rainfall Runoff studies is still widely acclaimed in engineering literature pertaining to water capture, storage, conservation and distribution. Besides engineering, he is also a well-known and highly respected poet in Tamil, the ancient Dravidian language still alive and well in South India. It is this combination of hard nosed engineering discipline and the sensitive feel of the poet that helped him in taking on the difficult task of managing not one but three Indian universities one after the other between 1978 and 1994. Those who are familiar with Indian higher education will appreciate the courage that is needed to accomplish this feat. But succeed he did, especially as the second Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU. Taking on the mantle of a huge, often factious, institution, Professor Kulandai Swamy brought in order, efficiency and, above all, respect to one of the world’s biggest universities. Mr. Chairman, for his contribution to the development and progress of distance education generally and IGNOU particularly, I request you to confer upon Professor V.C. Kulandai Swamy the Honorary Fellow of The Commonwealth of Learning award.      -G. Dhanarajan

   Lord Young

Lord Young of Dartington, UK - accepted on behalf of Lord Young by Dr. Ros Morpeth, Executive Director
National Extension College, UK  

What can one say about someone who, at 85, goes and establishes a school for social entrepreneurs in London’s East End after having already received national acclaim for setting up the Consumers’ Association and the Which? and the Where? magazines; the Social Science Research Council; the College of Health; the Advisory Centre for Education; International Alert (a pressure group concerned with preventing genocide); the National Association for the Education of Sick Children; the Open College of the Arts; the National Extension College; and the originator of an idea called the Open University, a long time before it became a reality under Wilson’s Labour Government?

There are many more things one can say about Michael Young, but suffice to say this man who is reputed to have founded some 49 charities is probably among the greatest of social engineers of our time. He devoted most of his life to achieving social justice for the poor and the under-privileged, the dispossessed and the disaffected. A doer, an innovator, an energetic fund raiser for his causes, a passionate and an incomparable educator, he has done more than many of his time to bring a respect and a purpose for open and distance learning. Mr. Chairman, for his lifetime work in support of open and distance learning, I invite you to confer the award of Honorary Fellow of The Commonwealth of Learning on Michael Young (in absentia).       -G. Dhanarajan

   G. Ram Reddy

Professor G. Ram Reddy (posthumous), India - accepted on behalf of the family by Professor Afzal Mohammad,
Vice-Chancellor of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, India

The late Professor Gaddam Ram Reddy was a firm believer in the democratisation of education and did something about it. More than any other Indian in recent history, Reddy attempted to take post-secondary education to every village and every Indian. He did not quite get there, but through his tireless efforts, energy and enthusiasm he managed to establish not one but two Open Universities whose combined enrolments stand around 600,000 students today. Reddy’s contribution goes beyond the establishing of two Open Universities in India. Through a unique brand of leadership that mixed political savvy, persuasive intellectual arguments and gentle application of power he not only turned political masters around, but also academic sceptics to the cause of open learning on the sub-continent. With well over seven open universities, 49 external studies units, a number of open schools and technical colleges, in no other country does Distance Education receive such universal acclaim and government support as in India.

Ram Reddy was a generous man; he had a great sense of humanity. In the fractious India of the nineties, torn by caste, class, race, religious differences, he remained a shining example of the India that was – tolerance, humility, gentleness, patience and soft spoken advocacy for things sensible, moral and proper. He was a generous man of thought and deed. He demonstrated these qualities during a short period of work in managing The Commonwealth of Learning, both at the executive and governance levels. In his untimely demise, education generally and distance education in particular lost a great global leader. Mr. Chairman, I take pride in requesting you to confer posthumously the Honorary Fellow of The Commonwealth of Learning on the late Professor Gaddam Ram Reddy for a lifetime contribution to distance and open learning.     -G. Dhanarajan

   Don Swift

Professor Donald F. Swift (posthumous), UK - accepted on behalf of the family by Ms. Jenny Glennie, Director
South African Institute for Distance Education, South Africa

In Hong Kong, where Professor Don Swift spent the better part of a decade spreading the message of distance and open learning, he was called SEE MAN TONG (translated as one divinely appointed to care for the masses). At the time of his death in January 1997, Don was actively engaged in providing advice and intellectual substance, through the South African Institute of Distance Education, to a new South Africa that was desperately searching for solutions to educational challenges in its attempts to escape from the trauma, ugliness and evil of a system designed during the darker days of apartheid.

Donald Swift always welcomed a challenge; he thrived on an overworked adrenaline pump. Challenging, advocating and finding practical solutions to overcome social impediments to educational opportunities was a passion. He unashamedly exploited all of the assets of distance education to the point of transplanting curriculum and courses from one jurisdiction to another. While others were talking about the global portability of Open Learning products, Don Swift was already doing it in Hong Kong in 1981. I would not be overstating by saying that, in a large measure, mostly due to his efforts Hong Kong today has an immensely successful Open University through which some thousands of individuals have access to post-secondary education and beyond. Mr. Chairman, for his pioneering efforts in promoting the application of Distance Education to address national needs and for the global use of distance education products, I invite you to posthumously award to Donald Francis Swift, the Honorary Fellow of The Commonwealth of Learning.       -G. Dhanarajan

Certificates of Merit

Institutional achievements:

Adelaide Institute of TAFE
GPO Box 1872
Adelaide, SA 5001
AUSTRALIA
www.ait.org
        Ms. Madeleine Woolley, Director

Charles Sturt University
The Grange
Panorama Avenue
Bathurst, NSW 2795
AUSTRALIA
www.csu.edu.au
        Professor C.D. Blake, Vice-Chancellor

African Medical and Research Foundation
P.O. Box 30125
Nairobi
KENYA
        Dr. John Batten, Director General

Distance education materials:

Mauritius College of the Air
for Information Technology in Everyday Life

Mrs. M. Seetulsingh
Director
Distance Education Division
Mauritius College of the Air
5th Floor, A1 Building
Club Road, Vacoas
Reduit
MAURITIUS
Tel: 230 697 5155 / 4230 / 4152 / 3735 / 5234
Fax: 230 697 3577

Grant MacEwan Community College
and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
for the Educational Technology Professional Development Program

Dr. Clayton R. Wright
Coordinator
Instructional Media and Design
Grant MacEwan Community College
7-311H, 10700 – 104 Ave
Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2
Canada
Tel: 1 780 497 5286
Fax: 1 780 497 5045
E-mail: wrightc@admin.gmcc.ab.ca
www.gmcc.ab.ca

Richard Poon
Educational Technology Facilitator
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
11762-106 Street
Edmonton, AB T5G 2R1
Canada
Tel: 1 780 471 7021
Fax: 1 780-471-8583
E-mail: richardp@nait.ab.ca
www.nait.ab.ca