Suchergebnisse

Internationalisation of education without commercialisation, The Commonwealth of Learning's President describes how the organisation serves the developing nations of the Commonwealth by: Gajaraj Dhanarajan (Professor Emeritus), President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning, May 2001 // COL embraces the internationalisation of education but does not endorse the over-commercialisation of what is essentially a social good." // While the Education and Training For All challenge has remained largely the same since The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) was established 12 years ago, there have been dramatic changes in the delivery mechanisms available to address that challenge. // New technologies and pedagogies are offering solutions for closing the gap between the demand for, and supply of, this vital social service. Global discussions - the World Education Forum/Education for All (Dakar, 2000), the Global Knowledge II Forum (Kuala Lumpur, 2000), the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Durban, 1999), the International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education (Seoul, 1999), UNESCO's World Conference on Higher Education (Paris, 1998) and others - have all reaffirmed the promise afforded by learning technologies and distance and open learning strategies, including common-place small media such as radio.

Open and Flexible Learning: Commonwealth Experience and India's Challenge, Inaugural Remarks, Sub-theme: Flexible and Open Learning, Main theme: Technology Enabled Flexible Education and Development at the: 76th Annual Meeting of the Association of Indian Universities, Central University of Chandigarh, Chandigarh, India, 5 - 8 December 2001 by: Gajaraj Dhanarajan (Professor Emeritus) President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning // Colleagues, it is both a pleasure and a privilege to share some thoughts with you at your 76th annual gathering on the sub-theme: Flexible and Open Learning. I could never have imagined some 42 years ago, that I would have this rare honour of addressing a meeting of academic leaders in this great country. It was then that I first came to India from Malaysia as an 18 year old to enter college in Tamil Nadu. Spurred by a sense of nationalism and economics, my father decided that his first-born should receive a college education in his motherland; and so I did! I am not sure how it is today, but in the late 50s "freshies" never met Vice Chancellors. Vice Chancellors then occupied another planet (some would say that they still do); so, you can appreciate my sense of delight and awe being here; my father will be proud of me! Having said that, I am also reminded of a speech made by that great Indian Mohandas K. Gandhi in early 1942 at the Benares Hindu University. On that occasion, looking at his audience of learned individuals he was heard to have said that "A feeling of nervousness overpower me when I am in the midst of learned men . . . In your midst, I feel tongue tied." He went on to further add, after looking at the topic given to him, that "The inspiration has come, but I do not know how you will welcome my plain speaking". I too am tongue-tied and I am inspired, as Indian Vice Chancellors continue to be a formidable specie. They are tough, brave, politically well connected, have tremendous responsibility, have a huge self esteem and some would claim to be almost infallible. And, they have a difficult job.

Literacy as an International Challenge: Jomtien, Dakar and Beyond, Prepared for: The 47th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Darwin, Melbourne and Canberra, Australia, 3 - 14 September 2001, Conference theme: Reassessing the profession of politics to raise the public perception of Parliaments and Parliamentarians / Workshop topic: Poverty Alleviation / Requested topic for paper: Literacy Gajaraj Dhanarajan (Professor Emeritus) President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning, 17 July 2001 // We still live in a world of great inequality. // A good part of humanity is still denied access to an equal share of the planet's wealth, to justice, to a decent living; the disparity between those who have and those who do not in terms of food, health care and social security continues to be appalling. This disparity is not just between rich and poor nations but also within nations and communities. Nowhere in these equations of disparities will one find something greater than that seen in education and educational provisions. // Throughout the ages, education has been the most powerful agent of change. Many of our leading thinkers, political leaders, and development specialists have come to recognise that the empowerment of individuals through the provision of learning - a basic human right and social responsibility - must therefore be protected. It is this desire to empower individuals that led to those who met in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1989 to declare among other things that: every person - child, youth and adult should be able to benefit from education; opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs. // Many would say that the Education for All (EFA) declaration remains little more than rhetoric. In April last year, slightly beyond ten years after the Jomtien World Conference on Education For All, some 180 government representatives, a multitude of donor agencies, and hundreds of international experts met in Dakar, Senegal, to assess the progress made by the EFA initiative. Dakar provided an opportunity not only to take stock and set new targets on the basis of the previous ten years of experience but also to learn from the lessons of the first decade of the EFA. These new targets, like those set by other global agendas, call for achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015. By doing so, it is hoped that a number of things such as halving the incidence of poverty, reducing child deaths by two-thirds and reducing maternal mortality by one-half, can more readily be achieved.

Teachers, Technology and (Re)Training by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning Delivered at a Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)/ Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) workshop on Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) through Teacher Professional Development, Bank of Montreal Institute for Learning Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, 1 - 3 December 1999 // It does not need yet another person, least of all someone like me, to say that the contemporary, social, political and economic pressures are making more education a mandatory obligation for governments. In most parts of the developing world, the desire to provide universal access to basic education as well as the increased use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education and training has meant a rapid increase in establishing infrastructure facilities. Unfortunately, supported by international donor and lending agencies, the capacity of governments to build more classrooms and place more computers in those classrooms seems to have far outstripped their capacities to produce qualified teachers to work in those classrooms with their machines. One estimate states that there may be as many as 1.8 million teachers needed by the low-income countries alone to meet the under supply of teachers in primary schools alone. A further study by Coldevin and Naidoo goes on to say that even where teachers are available, on a global scale, close to 30% still remain untrained both professionally and academically in the primary sector alone. That figure will be much higher if the other sectors, besides primary, are also included. While many of the APEC economies may not be in this dire state, statistics that are being published about teacher-readiness and their capacities to work in the new technologically enriched environment, seem to indicate that these economies will also be confronted with a similar situation of under-trained personnel, if they want to avoid using yesterday's teachers to educate tomorrow's children.

Throughout the ages, education has been the most powerful agent of change. Many of our leading thinkers, political leaders, development specialists have come to recognise that the empowerment of individuals through the provision of learning - a basic human right and social responsibility - must therefore be protected.

To keep you informed is not only a privilege but an obligation which I am pleased to meet This occasion also enables me to pay public tribute to the people and the Government of this Province for being host to The Commonwealth of Learning, the first international inter-governmental organisation located here with substantial support from Canada. The immense kindness and abundant generosity we have received does British Columbia proud and has brought you widespread credit and respect throughout the Commonwealth.

There are many things about OUR century that we can be proud of. Colonialism is by and large gone and most countries are now independent; more and more people want to participate in making their communities work and the voice of and for human freedom is finding a hearing across the world; there are signs of perhaps global peace and security; human development generally seems to be on a fast course with the developing countries on a much faster pace than, say, that of industrialised countries in the last century, and the ingenuity of humans has led to many technological advancements in space, medicine, agriculture, information and communication. While we can and should commend ourselves on this progress, there is still a long list of deprivations, for example, the disparity between the rich and poor nations in terms of food, health care and social security is still large and increasing; there are now more conflicts within nations than between nations, and the social and political fabrics of many countries are beginning to disintegrate; the environment is largely endangered and our biodiversity at risk of massive erosion. It is still a world of great inequality.

The Commonwealth of nations is home to 1.2 billion people; one out of four human beings on earth lives in one of the 53 Commonwealth countries. Almost half these nations are small with populations under a million while three (or four) of them are among the nine populous countries of the world. Except for the richer countries of the Commonwealth (Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore) which are aging, the others have populations that are young (those under 15 far out number those above 65); those with younger populations are also among the poorest having a higher percentage of illiteracy and employing the working populations in less skilled and low paying jobs. The need for more education and training in these less well endowed nations is clearly obvious. // By and large, this group of nations subscribe to decent and participatory government, preservation of human dignity, improving the health and well being of its individual peoples and sharing of experience with member Commonwealth countries.

The organisers of this seminar invited me to speak on the present developments and future trends in Education as we prepare for the new millennium. Those of you who know me well enough also know that while I am modestly familiar with the former, I am not very good at the latter, i.e., soothsaying, and the few times that I have attempted doing this seemed to confirm my self assessment of a singular lack of this talent. But, there are some very clever people out there in the big world who, with their computers and uncanny foresight, are predicting the developments in industry, technology, communication, commerce, environment, population, governments and humanity's knowledge base. Using their wisdom, I will attempt to speculate on some new directions for education generally. Together we could also look at what entails for distance education, particularly, if indeed such a dichotomy continues to exist in the coming millennium.

Like all organisations, good governance is a fundamental requirement for the responsible and accountable management of universities in general and open universities in particular. This is to ensure that these (open) universities remain relevant to their mission of facilitating unfettered access to higher education for citizens and at the same time continue being reliable contributors to personal and institutional developments, the vital ingredients to maintaining sustained national development. While several studies have, in the past, been conducted on governance of universities, almost all of them have centred around conventional, face-to-face institutions. Not much published literature is in evidence on the governance of Open Universities. This paper, drawing from a study on the governance of a few open universities in Asia, tries to discuss the nature of their challenges, and the lessons that can be drawn from their practices and experience. The study focused on aspects relating to institutional autonomies such as curriculum, budgeting and financial management, admission standards, conferment of qualifications, academic staff appointments, development and promotions and research policies. Our findings indicate that, similar to conventional systems, the state plays a crucial role in many aspects of governance both in publicly funded and privately supported institutions. Recent attempts at governance transformation towards greater institutional autonomies is beginning to show limited changes in some but not all jurisdictions studied.

Education and training in all countries can no longer rely on traditional methods alone to meet the needs and demands ofstudents, industry and governments. Indeed, the changing expectations of individual and corporate clients require a complete overhaul of public education and training.