BOARD NEWS
Professor Dr. Atta-ur-rahman, Coordinator General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), Pakistan and Professor at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi has been nominated as Asia’s representative on COL’s Board of Governors. Professor Atta-ur-rahman previously held the positions of Chairperson of the Pakistan Higher Education Commission and Minister of Science and Technology for Pakistan. COL thanks the Honourable Ms. Zahiya Zareer (Maldives) for her contributions to the Board as the previous representative for Asia.
Mr. Martin Bean, Vice Chancellor of the UK Open University, has joined COL’s Board of Governors as Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma’s
appointment. This position had been vacant for some time.
COL’s Board of Governors is comprised of:
- The Chair,
- The Commonwealth Secretary-General
- Six representatives of COL’s major donors (the Governments of Canada, India,
New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Kingdom),
- Regional representatives for Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific,
- The Commonwealth Secretary General’s appointment, and
- The President of COL (ex-officio).
The Board also appoints Advisors from time-to-time, such as the Secretary-General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
www.col.org/Board
STAFF NEWS
Professor Madhulika Kaushik has joined COL as the new Education Specialist – Higher Education. Professor Kaushik was most recently Professor of Management, School of Management Studies at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in India. She holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and a PhD from Jodhpur University. Professor Kaushik has held a wide range of positions at Jodhpur University, IGNOU and Wawasan Open University, Malaysia. www.col.org/mkaushik
Dr. Kaushik succeeds Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah, who retired after more than four years at COL and a distinguished career in international development. www.col.org/wclarke-okah
“During his time at COL, Willie introduced a number of activities that met with excellent response from our partners. The Commonwealth Executive MBA/MPA and Legislative Drafting programmes came into maturity under Willie’s direction. But Willie’s greatest achievement is probably his contribution to quality assurance for higher education institutions. He oversaw development of the Quality Assurance Toolkit for Higher Education and the COL Review and Improvement Method (COL RIM), an innovative and cost-effective approach to institutional audits.
“Willie was seen as a leader among his colleagues at COL. We often relied on his advice and respected his extensive experience in all regions of the Commonwealth. He made many valuable suggestions about how we can measure and improve our outputs, and most importantly, how we can achieve the greatest impact. Willie will be greatly missed by all of us at COL, as well as many partners around the Commonwealth.”
By Dr. Abdurrahman Umar, COL Education Specialist, Teacher Education
Sir John Daniel’s tribute to Dr. Clarke-Okah: www.col.org/blog93
Professor Olugbemiro Jegede, formerly Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), has been appointed Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU).
Professor Wong Tat Meng, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of Wawasan Open University in Malaysia, has been appointed President of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU).