December 2001
News from the Secretariat
Greetings from the AAOU Secretariat in Hong Kong where the winter monsoon has brought along fine cool weather and the Christmas lights and decorations have created a festive atmosphere.
As we enter the last few weeks of 2001, it is my great pleasure to extend the seasons compliments and best wishes for the Idil Fitri, Christmas and New Year celebrations. May the year 2002 bring peace, harmony and prosperity to this world as well as good health, success and happiness to yourselves and your families.
May I take this opportunity to update you with a few 'news' items.
| 1) | AAOU Annual Meeting of the General Board |
| As announced earlier, the AAOU Annual Conference scheduled for 1-3 November 2001 has been postponed to 21-23 February 2002. Subsequent to this, the General Board members gave their endorsement (via circulation) for the XV Meeting of the General Board to be postponed to 20 February 2002 and, at the same time, extended the term of office of the current Executive Committee to 28 February 2002. Your presence at this board meeting will be much appreciated as this is 'Election Year' for the posts of President and membership of the Executive Board to serve for the period 1 March 2002 to 31 December 2004. | |
| 2) | Pre-conference Workshop on Quality Assurance Framework |
| As announced earlier, in conjunction with the Annual Conference, the AAOU
Secretariat will be organizing a two-day pre-conference workshop on 'Quality
Assurance Framework for Distance Education Institutions' for senior management
of member institutions. This workshop will now be held on 18 and 19 February
2002 in New Delhi, and is sponsored by UNESCO-PROAP and co-sponsored by
the COL. Details of this workshop, as well as a draft of 'The AAOU Quality
Assurance Framework for Distance Education Institutions', is posted at the
AAOU website : http://www.aaou.net.
You are cordially invited to participate in this workshop. Should you be unable to attend, you may wish to consider sending another member of your senior management team. As an invited participant, your Registration fee (US$ 200) will be sponsored by UNESCO-PROAP. Lunch and refreshments will be provided for both days. There will also be a Workshop Dinner on 19 February. Unfortunately, you will have to bear the costs of your own travel and accommodation. In order to ensure effective interactivity, participation will be limited to the first 30 registrants. (We still have a number of vacancies due to withdrawals.) If you or your senior colleagues wish to take part in the workshop, please fill in the Registration Form in Annex 1 and return it to the AAOU Secretariat on or before 10 January 2002. Late applications will only be considered if there are vacancies. |
|
| 3) | AAOU 2002 Annual Conference |
|
The 16th AAOU Annual Conference will be held on November 5-7 2002. It
will be hosted by the Korea National Open University (KNOU) and will have
as its theme, 'Open and Distance Learning in the Digital Era: Towards
a Lifelong Learning Society'. KNOU is celebrating its 30th anniversary
and the conference will be the climax of a year-long celebration programme.
The venue for the conference will be the world-famous Lotte Complex, which
houses a 5-star hotel, a department store, and an indoor theme park. Everyone
is cordially invited to what promises to be an exciting and intellectually
stimulating conference. |
|
| 4) | Inter-University Fellowships |
| OUHK's Visiting Fellowship The President of OUHK, Prof S W Tam, is pleased to announce that in support of the AAOU's Inter-University Staff Exchange programme, the OUHK will provide four Visiting Fellowships, each for a one-month visit, to enable staff members of AAOU member institutions to visit OUHK for training or collaborative research attachments. During the attachment period, OUHK will provide desk space and supporting facilities as well as a per diem of HK$550 per day to cover food, lodging and all other expenses. In line with the terms of the AAOU Staff Exchange scheme, the home institution is expected to cover the cost of travel to and from Hong Kong as well as the regular salary of the staff concerned. The visit should begin by early March 2002. Nominations are invited from all AAOU member institutions. Each application must be endorsed by President/Vice Chancellor and must include the applicant's CV as well as a project proposal outlining the intended activities, the expected learning/research outcomes and the proposed attachment period. The deadline for submission of applications is 15 January 2002. Successful applicants will be informed by 28 January 2002. Please send applications to Prof T M Wong (email: tmwong @ ouhk. edu.hk Fax: (852) 2789 1170). It would be much appreciated if you can disseminate this information to your colleagues and encourage them to apply. May I also take this opportunity to invite your institution to join OUHK, IGNOU and STOU in contributing to this important Inter-University Staff Exchange Programme through offering one or more fellowships to visit and work in your institution. As mentioned above, you only need to cover food, lodging and desk space while the home institution of the recipient pays for the travel to and from your institution. The AAOU Secretariat may also be able to provide a modest subsidy (up to US$300) to assist in cases of demonstrated need. |
|
| 5) | COL 'Excellence in Distance Education Awards' |
| Members' attention is drawn to the fact that in conjunction with the 2nd
Pan Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning to be held in Durban, South Africa,
in July 2002, The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is calling for nominations
for the second offering of its Excellence in Distance Education Awards (EDEA).
Parties interested in submitting nominations should check out the details
which are available on the COL website : www.col.org/edea
Please note that the deadline for submissions is 31 January 2002. AAOU member institutions featured prominently among the winners of the first EDEA awards in Brunei, 1999 when IGNOU won the Excellence Award for Course Materials and OUHK won the Excellence Award for Institutional Achievement. Hopefully, AAOU members can further improve on this performance at the 2nd Pan Commonwealth Forum in 2002. |
|
| 6) | Biennial Conference of the Distance Education Association of New Zealand |
| This conference will be held from 10-12 April at Te Papa, Wellington,
New Zealand. Theme: 'Evolving eLearning' Please check website http://www.deanz.org.nz for details. Contact person: Christopher.Velvin@correspondence.school.nz Telephone 64-4-473 6841 Facsimile 64-4-471 2406 |
|
| 7) | Recent leadership changes in AAOU member institutions |
|
The following Presidents/Vice Chancellors have retired from office since the last Annual Meeting of the AAOU General Board:
The Secretariat wishes to record its grateful thanks to all the above
academic leaders for their contributions to the Association and extends
to them our best wishes for their retirement/new postings.
|
|
| 8) | Annual Subscriptions |
| The Secretariat wishes to thank all members who have paid their annual
subscriptions for 2001 and remind those who are still in arrears to do
so as soon as possible. Please note that the Annual Meeting of the General
Board receives a list of members whose subscriptions have not been paid
up for the past two years. Those members who have not paid their subscriptions
for the past three years will be reviewed by the Executive Board and could
be suspended and posted as defaulters. By the way, membership subscription for the year 2002 is due on 1 January 2002. The accompanying invoice will indicate the subscription status of your institution. Your cooperation in bringing your subscription up to date will be much appreciated. Thank you. |
|
|
Best Wishes for the New Year. Cheers!!
|
Yours sincerely,
Prof. T M Wong
(Sec-Gen., AAOU)
Quality Assurance Workshop Registration Form (Annex I)