lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region
lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region
teacher, erosion of traditional academic values, loss of a sense of community and sharedtradition, technological development at the expense of pedagogical standards, a tendencytowards cultural homogenisation, and an emphasis on quantity over quality. The chapterby Insung Jung provides a valuable contribution to this debate by giving an overview ofthe quality assessment systems used by the mega-universities.INTERNATIONAL SIGNPOSTSIn their efforts to grapple with the above-mentioned challenges, policy-makers canbe encouraged by the fact that there has already been — and continues to be — muchcollective brainstorming as well as practical collaboration going on nationally, regionallyand internationally. Here UNESCO has, of course, played and continues to play a centralrole through its meetings, reports, publications and collaborative projects. One suchproject, described in the chapter by Zeynep Varoglu, brought together an internationalteam of experts in the fields of informatics and higher education with the aim ofsupporting informed decision making for quality provision of open and distance learning.As Ms Varoglu shows, the experiences gained from such a project can provide valuablelessons for future initiatives in the same general area.An equally important contribution by UNESCO and other organisations has beenthrough various seminal conferences that have helped to pave the way forward andestablish signposts for the future. These include the series of international conferenceson adult education, the most recent of which took place in Hamburg in 1997. TheHamburg Declaration and the Agenda for the Future, which emerged from it, remain keydocuments. The UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education, held in 1998, wasalso a seminal event and resulted in a World Declaration on Higher Education for the 21 stCentury. This called, among other things, for higher education institutions to be open toadult and lifelong learners and to make full use of ICTs. Going beyond the functionalistmodel, it also said that students should be educated to become critical thinkers andresponsible citizens (UNESCO, 1998). A further very important UNESCO initiativewas the launching in 2002 of the Global Forum on International Quality Assurance,Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education, an internationalplatform for co-operation and bridge-building between governments, inter-governmentalorganisations, higher education bodies and other stakeholders. The main framework forUNESCO’s actions in higher education are its six Conventions on the Recognition ofQualifications, five of which are regional and one inter-regional. These conventions arekey standard-setting instruments in higher education, ratified by some 120 member statesof UNESCO.Apart from the pioneering work of UNESCO, there have been a number of otherimportant conference declarations and international initiatives. The Cologne Charter of1999, adopted by the G8 group of advanced industrial nations, recognised the importanceof lifelong learning as a “passport to mobility” and laid down various strategies for itsfuture development, including. “modern and effective ICT networks to support traditionalmethods of teaching and learning and increase the quantity and range of education andtraining, for example through distance learning.” (G8). The Bologna Declaration of thesame year, signed by 29 European ministers of education, set in motion the “,” which aims to create greater consistency, comparability and interchangeabilityamong European higher education systems as well as promoting co-operation in qualityassurance.Providing essential continuity in international co-operation are various networks,7
associations and groups of countries working together on joint educational projects andsharing resources, knowledge and experience. A leading example is UNESCO’s partnerin the creation of this book, the Commonwealth of Learning, launched in 1989 and basedin Vancouver, whose mission is to assist “Commonwealth member governments to takefull advantage of open, distance and technology-mediated learning strategies to provideincreased and equitable access to education and training for all their citizens.” (COL).Other such groupings and networks exist at regional level. For instance, the Council ofEurope and UNESCO have established the European Network of National InformationCentres on academic recognition and mobility (the ENIC network). These centres(ENICs) work in complementarity with the National Academic Recognition Centres(NARICs), established by the European Union.An important role here is also played by bilateral organisations, such as the NetherlandsOrganization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC), whose aimis to help strengthen higher education institutions in its partner countries. It also furthersacademic interchange and student mobility between those countries and the Netherlands,and promotes harmonisation of qualification and recognition systems. Chapter 10 of thisvolume is a contribution by Astrid Scholten and Jindra Divis of NUFFIC, discussingtwo aspects of the Dutch experience in promoting cross-border recognition and mobility.The chapter first addresses the issue of outgoing students and the measures taken by theNetherlands to improve quality assurance and recognition of programmes outside thecountry. Secondly, the authors describe procedures for recognising the competence ofincoming students. The Dutch experience is presented as an example of good practicefrom which others can draw their own lessons.While all of the various international conventions, declarations, processes, networks etc.present a somewhat complex picture, they reduce the need for educational planners anddecision-makers to “reinvent the wheel” in their particular initiatives. There is, however,a further important prerequisite for effective programmes, namely research. In theplanning of distance higher education one needs reliable and up-to-date information andanalysis in a variety of areas, chiefly the following five: (1) learners and their needs; (2)teachers and their needs; (3) the needs of employers and the market; (4) didactic methods;(5) technological developments (such as methods of online delivery of learning material).Tony Bates, in Chapter 11, addresses this topic. He describes how, with the expansionof lifelong learning and distance higher education, the body of research on these areashas grown, yielding very important findings for policy-makers. This body continues toexpand, as it must if the field is to flourish and grow and higher education is to play itsfull part in creating a true learning world.8
- Page 1 and 2: PERSPECTIVES ONDISTANCE EDUCATIONLi
- Page 3 and 4: The Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
- Page 5 and 6: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSIn addition to the
- Page 7 and 8: These are some of the issues that a
- Page 9 and 10: What are the trends and issues in l
- Page 11 and 12: of policy implications relating to
- Page 13 and 14: evince important differences that c
- Page 15: inequitable regulations governing t
- Page 19 and 20: THE CONTRIBUTORChristopher McIntosh
- Page 21 and 22: INTRODUCTIONIn his 1996 report to U
- Page 23 and 24: Lastly, our analysis of the situati
- Page 25 and 26: diploma or similar certificates of
- Page 27 and 28: force of the undertaking. Here agai
- Page 29 and 30: RELEVANT INTERNET SITESUNESCO Task
- Page 31 and 32: Notes1. This phrasing has been used
- Page 33 and 34: goals (Daniel, 1996). Lifelong lear
- Page 35 and 36: eported that group activity had red
- Page 37 and 38: NEW AREAS FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION:WO
- Page 39 and 40: targets systematically for the use
- Page 41 and 42: Rausch, A.S. (2003). A case study o
- Page 43 and 44: correspondence teaching systems tha
- Page 45 and 46: significant differences between syn
- Page 47 and 48: In distance flexible- and blended-e
- Page 49 and 50: STATE-FUNDED DUAL-MODE SYSTEMS ATUN
- Page 51 and 52: Table 4.2: Fundable elements in dis
- Page 53 and 54: sciences in 21 countries of the reg
- Page 55 and 56: How a system is funded depends in p
- Page 57 and 58: Litto, Fredric M. (2004). Digital l
- Page 59 and 60: CHAPTER 5LIFELONG LEARNING IN THE A
- Page 61 and 62: education, which was initiated by C
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associations <strong>and</strong> groups of countries working together on joint <strong>education</strong>al projects <strong>and</strong>sharing resources, knowledge <strong>and</strong> experience. A leading example is UNESCO’s partnerin the creation of this book, the Commonwealth of Learning, launched in 1989 <strong>and</strong> basedin Vancouver, whose mission is to assist “Commonwealth member governments to takefull advantage of open, <strong>distance</strong> <strong>and</strong> technology-mediated <strong>learning</strong> strategies to provideincreased <strong>and</strong> equitable access to <strong>education</strong> <strong>and</strong> training for all their citizens.” (COL).Other such groupings <strong>and</strong> networks exist at regional level. For instance, the Council ofEurope <strong>and</strong> UNESCO have established the European Network of National InformationCentres on academic recognition <strong>and</strong> mobility (the ENIC network). These centres(ENICs) work in complementarity with the National Academic Recognition Centres(NARICs), established by the European Union.An important role here is also played by bilateral organisations, such as the Netherl<strong>and</strong>sOrganization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC), whose aimis to help strengthen <strong>higher</strong> <strong>education</strong> institutions in its partner countries. It also furthersacademic interchange <strong>and</strong> student mobility between those countries <strong>and</strong> the Netherl<strong>and</strong>s,<strong>and</strong> promotes harmonisation of qualification <strong>and</strong> recognition systems. Chapter 10 of thisvolume is a contribution by Astrid Scholten <strong>and</strong> Jindra Divis of NUFFIC, discussingtwo aspects of the Dutch experience in promoting cross-border recognition <strong>and</strong> mobility.The chapter first addresses the issue of outgoing students <strong>and</strong> the measures taken by theNetherl<strong>and</strong>s to improve quality assurance <strong>and</strong> recognition of programmes outside thecountry. Secondly, the authors describe procedures for recognising the competence ofincoming students. The Dutch experience is presented as an example of good practicefrom which others can draw their own lessons.While all of the various international conventions, declarations, processes, networks etc.present a somewhat complex picture, they reduce the need for <strong>education</strong>al planners <strong>and</strong>decision-makers to “reinvent the wheel” in their particular initiatives. There is, however,a further important prerequisite for effective programmes, namely research. In theplanning of <strong>distance</strong> <strong>higher</strong> <strong>education</strong> one needs reliable <strong>and</strong> up-to-date information <strong>and</strong>analysis in a variety of areas, chiefly the following five: (1) learners <strong>and</strong> their needs; (2)teachers <strong>and</strong> their needs; (3) the needs of employers <strong>and</strong> the market; (4) didactic methods;(5) technological developments (such as methods of online delivery of <strong>learning</strong> material).Tony Bates, in Chapter 11, addresses this topic. He describes how, with the expansionof <strong>lifelong</strong> <strong>learning</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>distance</strong> <strong>higher</strong> <strong>education</strong>, the body of research on these areashas grown, yielding very important findings for policy-makers. This body continues toexp<strong>and</strong>, as it must if the field is to flourish <strong>and</strong> grow <strong>and</strong> <strong>higher</strong> <strong>education</strong> is to play itsfull part in creating a true <strong>learning</strong> world.8
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