For Immediate Release
- November 21, 1995
Heads of Government endorse the work of The Commonwealth of Learning
AUCKLAND - Commonwealth Heads of Government, holding their biennial meeting this month in Auckland, New Zealand, endorsed the continuing work of The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), an organisation that they created, at their Vancouver summit in 1987, to widen opportunities for learning by promoting the development and sharing of distance education resources and technologies.
Forming a part of the final communiqué agreed upon and issued by the leaders at the conclusion of their summit, the report from their Committee of the Whole "acknowledged that the Commonwealth had, through COL, been able to play a leading role in furthering the application of distance education and open learning to meet the human resource development needs of its member countries. This will enable COL to help fulfil the Commonwealth commitment of 'education for all' and ensure, in particular that this will extend education to girls, the disabled and marginalised groups through the application of distance education technologies."
The report further "expressed appreciation for the impressive progress made by COL since its establishment," but also "expressed concern that despite COL's impressive achievements and the increasing demands for its services, the organisation faced a financial crisis which had necessitated a narrowing of the scope of its activities."
Heads of Government responded by also endorsing the report's call for action, urging member governments to "reaffirm their support strongly and to review their financial commitment to COL."
COL's new President,
Dr. Gajaraj (Raj) Dhanarajan, was in attendance at the Commonwealth Heads Government Meeting in Auckland. He has now returned to Vancouver and is available for interview.
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For further information contact:
Dave Wilson,
Public Affairs Officer
The Commonwealth
of Learning
1285 West Broadway, Suite 600
Vancouver
Canada, V6H 3X8
Tel: (604) 775 8200
Fax: (604) 775 8210