For Immediate Release
- July 2, 1996
Restructuring announced at The Commonwealth of Learning
VANCOUVER - Following extensive restructuring at The Commonwealth of Learning, the agency's new President and C.E.O.,
Dato' Dr. Gajaraj Dhanarajan , has announced the appointment of his two chief deputies.
On July 2, 1996,
Mr. Peter McMechan, will take up responsibilities as Director, Regions. A New Zealander, McMechan has been serving as a staff member since the organisation was created in 1988. Previously, he headed the university extension programme of the University of Otago in New Zealand and before that at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.
Dr. Ian Mugridge will join the staff as Director, Programmes. Mugridge is a former assistant vice-president of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (Burnaby), was the founding principal of British Columbia's Open University, and has been a senior consultant to COL since 1992. He has also been Vice-President for North America with the International Council for Distance Education.
"We have moved to a flatter, less-hierarchical, and hopefully more responsive and flexible organisational base - and are extremely fortunate to have secured the services of two outstanding people as divisional leaders, both of whom we all hold in high regard. They have my fullest confidence," says President Dhanarajan.
Dhanarajan was appointed to the Presidency of the organisation in September 1995 after completing a five-year term as Director of the Open Learning Institute in Hong Kong. He is a Malaysian citizen with rich academic and leadership background. Following his appointment, COL's Board of Governors was restructured; and the new Board, in turn, approved a restructuring of the organisation itself.
The three senior staff members are drawn from countries that are also playing significant roles in the organisation's work and in providing its voluntary funding.
Canada and the
Province of British Columbia have been sustaining supporters from the beginning.
New Zealand has recently announced a significant increase in the level of its contribution.
Malaysia has accepted an invitation for its Education Secretary to join the agency's Board and has signalled the possibility of joining in the funding partnership within its recently announced commitment to assist Commonwealth activities.
With headquarters based in
Vancouver, the international organisation serves the 53-member Commonwealth with a mandate to widen opportunities for learning by promoting the development and sharing of distance education resources and communications technologies.
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For further information contact:
Dave Wilson,
Public Affairs Officer
The Commonwealth
of Learning
1285 West Broadway, Suite 600
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada, V6H 3X8
Tel: (604) 775 8200
Fax: (604) 775 8210