The next Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 27 - 30 October 2003. With the theme of "Closing the Gap: Access, inclusion and achievement", the conference comprises three concurrent and inter-related events: the Education Ministers' conference, the Parallel Symposium and "Showcase Youth." www.15ccem.com
Showcase Youth is a new feature for the triennial summit, where organisers are inviting young people from throughout the Commonwealth to participate in a Youth Summit - a forum to debate education issues and contribute to the final document of the 15CCEM, the Edinburgh Communiqué - and mounting a Showcase of Best Practice to demonstrate examples of learning and teaching that directly involve young people in cutting edge educational processes. Initiatives selected for the Showcase will relate to the main conference themes of "access, inclusion and achievement" and will include creative and performing arts events and the use of new technology for international links.
The Parallel Symposium will address the more technical aspects of the topics being discussed by Ministers, as well as issues of delivery, diversity and leadership.
COL is one of the organisers of the CCEM and is involved in all aspects of the conference. It will also be presenting its next Three-year Plan to Ministers of Education, seeking their endorsement and associated funding commitments.
The Government of Nigeria will host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). It will take place in Abuja from 5 - 8 December 2003.
Hosted by the Honourable Danny Faure, Minister of Education, Seychelles, a consultative meeting will be held in Mahé in March 2003 with a group of invited Ministers of Education from Commonwealth small states to discuss and test designs for establishing a virtual university to serve small states.
Commonwealth Ministers of Education have recognised that improved access to quality education and training is critical to these nations and that existing institutions, whether national or regional, although effective, may not be equipped to meet the new demands. They have, therefore, suggested that the more aggressive use of new technologies and technological structures be employed through a collaborative delivery system. In their Halifax Statement on Education in the Commonwealth, issued when they last met in December 2000, Commonwealth Ministers of Education requested COL to pursue the establishment of a virtual university designed specifically to serve small member states.
Having now extensively studied how such a virtual university can work, a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) constituted by COL is planning to recommend to Education Ministers that the Commonwealth begin work on creating it. Their vision for a virtual university involves a consortium of existing institutions, with key partners being the long-established regional universities in the Caribbean (University of the West Indies) and the South Pacific (University of the South Pacific).
Establishing such a virtual university will require modest levels of funding, agreement by Commonwealth Ministers of Education that the models emerging from the TAC's studies meet with their own imagery of a virtual university and support from the existing national and regional institutions. After extensive consultation with stakeholders, the TAC's report will be finalised and presented to Commonwealth Education Ministers when they meet in Edinburgh in October 2003.
The Technical Advisory Committee's draft report is available on COL's web site. Comments are welcome.
Schoolnet Africa and COL, along with the International Institute for Communication and Development and the World Bank as collaborating partners, are organising an historic event that will engage both schoolnet practitioners and education policymakers in discussions on practical and policy issues relating to efforts to bridge the educational and digital divides in Africa.
ICTs in African Schools - A Workshop for Practitioners and Policymakers will take place in Gaborone from 27 April - 2 May 2003, hosted by the Government of Botswana. An estimated 300 participants will include representatives of schoolnet organisations and Ministries of Education from 30 African countries. Representatives from the donor community, development agencies, multilateral organisations, the private sector and civil society are also being invited to participate in the workshop.
The issues for discussion are based on the findings of high-profile research projects that form part of the SchoolNet Africa ICTs for Education in Africa Research Program.
One objective of the workshop is to allow a first-time opportunity for African schoolnet practitioners and policymakers to share information, experiences and case studies as Africans, with the view of promoting co-ordinated initiatives addressing bridging the digital divide and other priorities such as Education for All. Another is to find solutions to the challenges that accompany the introduction of information and communications technologies into education.
The workshop is also intended to serve as an important mobilising forum to highlight the plight of African countries in their efforts to bridge the digital divide and to make recommendations for consideration at the World Summit for Information Society and other global fora.
Official conference web site (www.schoolnetafrica.net/IAS2003)
The 10th Cambridge International Conference on Open and Distance Learning will hosted by the U.K. Open University at Madingley Hall, Cambridge, from 23 - 26 September 2003 and will be held this time in association with the Commonwealth of Learning.
To ensure that the conference is interactive in nature, registration is limited to about 70 people. While keynote speakers will make significant contributions, the combination of home groups and parallel sessions will ensure that the content of the conference comes from the participants themselves.
The conference theme is "The future of open and distance learning". Further information and a call for "initial expressions of interest to present papers or attend" is available at www2.open.ac.uk/r06/conference/conference.htm (link no longer works, March 2004) or from Cambridge-Conference@open.ac.uk .
The Eighth UNESCO Conference of the Ministers of Education of African Member States (MINEDAF VIII) took place in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, from 2 - 6 December 2002.
With the theme of the meeting being,"Taking up the challenges of education in Africa, from commitments to action", UNESCO Director-General, Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, noted that "MINEDAF VIII is a golden opportunity for Africa's educational leaders collectively to take the decisive step from commitment to action. Ranging from poor quality and the impact of HIV/AIDS to teacher shortages and under-funding, the challenges facing education in Africa are truly daunting. There are, however, new opportunities to address these challenges with renewed vigour and enhanced support. These opportunities must be seized for the sake of all African children. Their education, after all, is Africa's future." www.minedaf.org
COL is collaborating with UNESCO on several African initiatives and accepted invitations to participate at MINEDAF VIII, including a presentation by COL's President and CEO, Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, entitled, "Open and distance learning in developing economies". He urged African Governments to consider increased use of distance learning as a means of expanding education opportunities, especially in enhancing teacher training in a continent where more than 70 percent of teachers require extensive training to upgrade their skills. www.col.org/speeches
The Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) held its XVI Annual Conference in Seoul, Korea, from 4 - 7 November 2002, hosted by the Korea National Open University. The conference theme was "Open and distance learning in the digital era: Towards a lifelong learning society". www.aaou.or.kr AAOU2002@mail.kmou.ac.kr
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Addressing gender barriers, such as those encountered by women, to the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for education and training, and especially for open and distance learning, an invitational meeting for regional representatives from the developing parts of the Commonwealth was held in Ottawa in June 2002. Participants reviewed outcomes from four regional meetings held earlier to examine the issues. Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) joined with COL in organising and co-sponsoring the meeting.
Global "digital divide" discussions have identified the particular need to address the implications of the ICT revolution for women, recognising the importance of taking measures to ensure that they are not deprived of the opportunity to participate in the emerging economy that is likely to shape the 21st century. www.col.org/wdd
As the meeting concluded, Ms. Lorna Callender, a Caribbean delegate and former Head of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Education Reform Unit (OERU), penned a poem on behalf of all participants.
Commonwealth Sisters
Commonwealth sisters
Of the four regions
Pacific, African, Asian, Caribbean
Gathered to address
The barriers of women
Barriers of access
To ICT
Relating these to
Socio-cultural relevancy...
And how they could help
To eradicate poverty
Checklists were drawn up
Key issues tabulated
Appropriate strategies
On these we ruminated
Concepts were analysed
Dissected and articulated
Seems everything had
To be gender-related
Some case studies
Presented solutions
Engaging the attention
Of distant institutions
On the international conference
There was much discussion
Planning will continue
At a website location
All in all, we left
Enriched by the meeting
Just saying many thanks
To those guiding it to completion.
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