BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS
COL President Sir John Daniel signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UniSey Vice Chancellor Dr. Rolph Payet. COL President Sir John Daniel and IGNOU Vice Chancellor Professor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai in Kochi, India. CEMCA Director Dr. R. Sreedher and UOU Vice Chancellor Dr. Vinay Kumar Pathak sign AN MOU in December.
COL’s success is due in large part to numerous partnerships with educational institutions, non-governmental organisations and community groups throughout the Commonwealth. These partnerships are frequently formalised in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Three new MOUs will help extend COL’s expertise in open and distance learning.
COL and the new University of Seychelles (UniSey) have signed a collaboration agreement to work together with UNESCO on quality assurance. COL and UniSey will also explore how Seychelles can take advantage of Teacher Education for Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA), a partnership project aimed at improving the quality of teaching.
COL’s regional agency, the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) has signed an MOU with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to develop a Post-Graduate Diploma Programme in Community Media, including scholarships for 50 students. CEMCA and IGNOU will collaborate to develop the programme, which will support the expansion of community radio in India. Largely through the efforts of CEMCA, the Indian government is seeking to increase the number of community radio stations from approximately 100 now to some 4,000 in a few years.
CEMCA and Uttarakhand Open University (UOU) have agreed to identify avenues for collaboration, including the development of a multimedia course on information and knowledge delivery and capacity building. Established in 2005, UOU is the only open university in the state of Uttarakhand, in northern India.
UNIVERSITY OF SEYCHELLES INAUGURATED
The new University of Seychelles was formally inaugurated on 30 November by a group of dignitaries that included Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal (The Princess Anne), University of Seychelles Chancellor and Seychelles President Mr. James Michel, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of London, Sir Graeme Davies, and COL President, Sir John Daniel.
Called “the world’s smallest university” by the BBC, UniSey has 300 students this year in programmes offered in partnership with a number of universities overseas, notably the University of London, the Université de Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Edith Cowan University, Australia.
www.unisey.ac.sc
ONLINE DISCUSSION: FEDERALISM AND EDUCATION
COL’s blog is hosting a discussion about how responsibility for education can best be allocated in federal states. Starting with a blog post by COL President Sir John Daniel about the possible consequences of devolving responsibility for education in Pakistan to the states, subsequent posts from international experts have commented on the situation in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, the UK, the US and the former Yugoslavia.
COL welcomes short contributions (300-500 words) from readers on federal arrangements for education in other federal states – Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth – either as comments or for postings as guest blogs.
Join the discussion: www.col.org/blog, click on Federalism in Education on the left.
COL PRESIDENT'S BOOK WINS AWARD
COL President Sir John Daniel’s new book, Mega-Schools, Technology and Teachers: Achieving Education for All has won an award from the China TVU system. The Chinese translation of the book received the Special Prize for Excellent Research. A number of COL’s training handbooks have also been translated into Chinese by China Central Radio and TV University Press.
www.crtvup.com.cn
www.col.org/mega-schools
TRADING SPACE
Trading Space: Models and Materials was a new session format at PCF6. Several dozen conference delegates displayed their open and distance learning materials and plans, allowing for focussed networking and valuable information sharing in a free and open setting. Shown here is Mr. David Lambukly, Chief Executive Officer with the Vanuatu National Training Council, one of the contributors to learning materials for Basic Trades for Small Island Nations.