For Immediate Release
- September 21, 1996
Dato' Sharom named as Southeast Asia rep.
VANCOUVER -
Dato' Dr. Gajaraj Dhanarajan , President of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), has announced the appointment of
Dato' Dr. Sharom Ahmatas COL's operational representative for Southeast Asia.
Dato' Sharom is one of Malaysia's eminent educationists. Currently President of Kolej Disted in Penang, he has academic and administrative experience in all three Southeast Asian Commonwealth countries - Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.
Before taking up his Disted post in 1994, Dato' Sharom spent nine years in Brunei providing expert advise in the establishment of academic programmes at the newly established Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
A historian, he earned his Ph.D. in 1969 and by 1973 was a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Singapore. In 1973, Dato' Sharom was appointed Professor of History at the University of Science Malaysia in Penang and became the first local Dean of the School of Humanities. He then served as a Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University from 1975 to 1985.
Dhanarajan, a Malaysian national himself, is excited about the appointment of his first regional adviser and representative. "We are very fortunate to have a person of this stature and uniquely suited experience to assist with COL's operations in the region; COL is now, more than ever before, in a position to contribute to and learn from the rapid advance of distance education and open learning that is occurring in Southeast Asia," he said.
Dhanarajan also expressed his gratitude to the Kolej Disted, the Government of Malaysia, and Dato' Sharom himself, for making the partnership arrangement possible. He noted that COL will be creating several other similar regional adviser posts, in other regions of the Commonwealth, all of which will provide service on a non-remunerative basis in co-operation with local institutions.
Earlier this year, Malaysia accepted an invitation for its Education Secretary,
Datuk Dr. Johari Bin Mat, to serve as an Adviser to the agency's Board of Governors and has now joined the funding partnership with a recently announced two-year commitment, contributing RM125,000 (UK£32,500) annually to COL's core funding base.
The Commonwealth of Learning was created by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1988. 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