Browsing by Author "Dhanarajan, Gajaraj"

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    Changing Expectations of Global Education: Charting a New Course
    (2001-09-25) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Changing Expectations of Global Education: Charting a new course Keynote presentation at the: 15th annual IDP Education Australia conference University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 25 - 28 September 2001 by: Gajaraj Dhanarajan (Professor Emeritus) President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning // I feel privileged to be invited once again to your conference and to share some thoughts with you on matters that are of mutual interest to you and I. My relationship with IDP goes back to its very early days and it has been an enjoyable association. IDP and its subscribers have done much to promote the cause of global education and in the process, you have changed the way this part of the world looks at learning, teaching, trading in education and education in development. When you invited me in 1996 to address you annual gathering, I had just assumed responsibility for The Commonwealth of Learning. You treated me gently by suggesting that I speak on something very ordinary like quality assurance as it applies to off shore education [a field I used to have some knowledge of]. This time, perhaps for my many sins during these past few years, the organisers have suggested that I "provide insights into global education and where it is headed, in particular, exploring how international education is building global capacity on a national, institutional and personal basis and, as a related theme, how the internet and new communication technologies are contributing to the global development of global capacity in education". This is a very tall order - very few people these days want to speak about expletives like globalisation [fearing personal safety] and far too many speak about virtual education. I have to do all this in 15 minutes while sharing this platform with some of your great academics and academic administrators. Therefore, if you notice some nervousness on my part, you will understand that this is because of the daunting challenge of sharing thoughts with an audience such as yourselves, who know so much about globalisation and its impact on education and new forms of educational delivery.
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    Combating Poverty through Adult Education
    (2001-03-05) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Combating Poverty through Adult Education Silver Jubilee Celebration Institute of Distance and Continuing Education University of Guyana Inauguration of the Dennis Irvine Lecture Series First Lecture by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning, 5 March 2001 // May I first congratulate and compliment the University, its Institute of Distance and Continuing Education, the Vice-Chancellor, and Mr. Samuel Small on the Silver Jubilee of the Institute and in celebrating and recognising a great regional academic leader, scholar, administrator, international public servant, Dr. Dennis H. Irvine, through a Lecture Series in his honour. Secondly, please accept my sincere gratitude for giving me the honour of delivering this inaugural lecture in the Series. I am humbled by your invitation, flattered at the thought of addressing such a distinguished gathering, enormously pleased to pay homage to a great friend of The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), and at the same time to also have the opportunity to publicly place on record the gratitude of COL for the unstinting service and support Dr. Irvine rendered to COL while he was in Canada and when he returned to his native land, Jamaica. All those who have come to know him, hold Dennis, in great awe. We are constantly amazed at the erudition, energy and passion he brings to the things he does and through his powers of argument, persuasion and clever diplomacy, the contributions he has made to education, not only here in Guyana but to the greater Commonwealth also. When he invited me, Mr. Small suggested that I speak of adult education and poverty alleviation. The first I know a little about through professional experience and the second, a little bit more through personal experience. This lecture is therefore based less on scholarship of the subject and more arising out of a sense of despondency witnessing the indignities and inequalities suffered by those who have been denied greater opportunities for learning for one reason or another.
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    Convergence of Distance and Conventional Education: International Perspectives
    (1997-09-23) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Convergence of distance and conventional education: international perspectives by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President, The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver to the Cambridge International Conference on Open and Distance Learning "The Convergence of distance and conventional education: Patterns of flexibility for the individual learner" Madingley Hall, Cambridge, England, 23-26 September 1997 // 1. On September 25, 1997, all 1000 courses offered during this quarter by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), will go on-line. By a simple decree, university administrators have made the web page mandatory for all the courses in their College of Letters and Science. The web page will be constructed using a programme called WebCT. Apart from basic information such as course description, syllabus, meeting time, it will also contain readings, slides, and audio and video links to other resources (The Chronicle, August 1997).
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    Enhancing Higher Education through eLearning
    (2003-11-17) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Enhancing Higher Education through E-Learning Inaugural address presented at the: University Grants Commission (India)-Commonwealth of Learning "Dialogue on Enhancing Higher Education through E-Learning" New Delhi, India 17 - 19 November 2003 by: Gajaraj Dhanarajan (Professor Emeritus) President and Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth of Learning // In a report to the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education on e-learning, authors reflected, "In the fifth century, B.C., Plato predicted that the invention of writing would weaken the oral tradition that sustained poets such as Homer". Yet poetry is still alive and well 2500 years later. Similarly, 500 years ago many believed that the invention of printing, by making intellectual creations easily available, would dry up the springs of intellectual creations, by ending a long standing tradition of oral debate and expressions. As we look back over the last 500 years from the vantage point of our knowledge-based society, a decline in intellectual vitality is more than a little difficult to discern, though certainly there may have been changes in some aspects of intellectual life. In fact, the existence of today's knowledge-based society is in part a testimony to the enormous intellectual energy of the last 500 years. No one could seriously argue today that the intellectual enterprise or teaching has suffered because of the intervention of writing or printing. "The new knowledge tools represent similarly revolutionary technologies, and we ignore them at our peril. Their potential is also clear. Online learning will be central to fostering the lifelong learning culture that will be essential to sustaining a civil and prosperous society in 21st century Canada."[i] // On the one hand, it would not be inappropriate to state that the last 20 years have seen some remarkable innovations in the delivery of learning. On the other hand, many would also argue that as remarkable as these innovations are, they are no more than a beginning. Developments in the next 20 years will make, as one former Secretary of Education of the USA, John W. Gardner, remarked, ". . . education as it is practiced in most schools today (look) so primitive." While this may be overstating optimism Professor Gardner's views are not totally unrealisable.[ii] The technologies that are available today and emerging in the near future have the potential to transform the business of education. However, what may be impeding that potential is the culture and tradition of our academe. Nine centuries of organised education has strong views and deep roots on what is best and what is not. Notwithstanding the reticence and the strong pull of tradition and history, we need to consider in light of the demand, quality, relevance of curriculum, appropriateness of content, strategies to utilise the potential of the new technologies to support a nation's aspirations to train its workforce to be a modern, well educated and highly competitive one in the global environment.
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    Globalization, Competitiveness and Open and Distance Education: Reflections on Quality Assurance
    (1997-11-11) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Globalization, Competitiveness and Open and Distance Education: Reflections on Quality Assurance by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President, The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, to the Asian Association of Open Universities, Eleventh Annual Conference "Quality Assurance in Distance and Open Learning" Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 11-14 November 1997 // 1. Colleagues, allow me a minute to thank the organisers of this Conference and the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) for this delightful opportunity to share some thoughts with you on a subject that is becoming increasingly important for education, generally, and higher education, particularly. The AAOU which is in its eleventh year of existence, has become an important forum for distance and open education in the region. Increasingly, it is being seen as a remarkable role model for professional distance education associations across the developing world. At the same time, its members are also held in high regard by peers across the world for the single minded way in which they have gone about creating their own forum to discuss issues of importance to their professional development. We, at The Commonwealth of Learning, are immensely proud of our association with you; in one way or another we have found occasions to work with your association on matters of mutual interest to both our organisations. We would like to continue this arrangement and explore opportunities to strengthen our ties even further in the future.
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    Internationalisation of education without commercialisation
    (2001-05) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    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.
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    Knowledge Societies, Science and Education
    (1999-11-29) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Knowledge Societies, Science and Education by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning, Delivered at the 55th Annual Session of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 29 November 1999 // 1. At the recently concluded World Conference on Science, Mr. Federico Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO, made two points which I thought were most appropriate to mention at this conference of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS). They are: - Science possesses a huge force for change (and it is), a potential that must be used to the full. - A new departure for scientific research cannot be envisaged without a new departure for science education.
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    Literacy as an International Challenge: Jomtien, Dakar and Beyond
    (2001-07-17) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    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.
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    Online Learning – A Social Good or Another Social Divide?
    (2001-01-10) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    On-Line Learning - A Social Good or Another Social Divide? International Conference on Learning and Teaching On-Line South China Normal University Guangzhou, China Keynote Address by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning, 10 January 2001 // Lest you mistake me for a Luddite, after reading the abstract of this presentation, let me assure you quite unequivocally that my passion for distance education as well as the new variants of it, such as the theme of this conference, is still as high as it was some 30 years ago when I began my association with the field in Malaysia. // Having said that, like many others of my generation, who benefited from and saw the value that education made to one's personal circumstances, I was motivated to be part of a movement that brought down barriers to accessing learning. Many of you, like me, know and recognise that learning has never been as freely available to the poor as to the rich. It is easier for those in urban areas than for those in rural communities; people marginalised whether by geography, race, religion, abilities, have always found it difficult to access learning than non-marginalised populations. Most importantly, in the context of this conference, those who had more prior learning have always found it easier to access more new learning than those without.
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    Open and Flexible Learning: Commonwealth Experience and India’s Challenge
    (2001-12-05) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    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.
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    PCF1: Closing Summary
    (1999-03-05) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Closing Summary presented by Dato' Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, COL President & CEO at the First Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF1) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam on 5 March 1999.
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    PCF1: Welcoming Address
    (1999-03-02) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Welcoming Address presented by Dato' Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, COL President & CEO at the First Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF1) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam on 2 March 1999.
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    Reflections on Ten Years of the Commonwealth of Learning
    (2001) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    The purpose of this document is to reflect and encourage discussions about The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and its strategic objectives for the ten years beginning July 2000. It draws on COL’s experiences since its inception in November 1988 and seeks to build on initiatives taken during COL’s first decade and, at the same time, to benefit from global knowledge and experience in the application of open and distance learning in the last five years. Accordingly, Reflections on Ten Years is presented in five discrete sections: It starts with The Idea, outlining the challenges of inception. That is followed by The Work, a description of COL’s unique contribution to Commonwealth education; The Need, a look at the present state of human development in the Commonwealth; and The Niche, which considers the global trends in the delivery of educational services and the use of learning technologies. Finally, New Directions discusses the main themes and issues that arise from COL’s experiences and global trends, which should be at the heart of its work in its second decade. This document, and the ideas in it are not meant to be prescriptive. Rather, as a reflection, it is hoped that it will show how COL’s productive past will help guide its exciting future.
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    Remarks
    (1999-06-12) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Remarks by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth of Learning upon being awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (Hon. D.Lett.) "in recognition of his distinguished service to open and distance education throughout the Commonwealth, and his outstanding contributions to higher education." by Athabasca University, Canada, AU convocation ceremony, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada, 12 June 1999
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    Rethinking Planning for Open Learning
    (2007) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    This meeting is about Planning Open Learning generally, but more specifically it is about planning Open Universities which, as a habit, use methods of distance education to deliver learning. Speaking selfishly it could not have come at a better time for those of us in Penang, who are struggling very hard over many issues relating to Open Learning that requires consideration, as we work on establishing a new Open University on this island, to serve Malaysians. // Looking around we cannot help but recognize that the world in which Open Distance Learning operates is being redefined based on a number of factors. Major technological breakthroughs as well as social developments, many of which have occurred over the last three decades, are major drivers of the changing environment. but, others such as increased demand for learning, trade in educational services, globalization, economic liberalism have all been cited by one or another expert, as contributing to that redefinition.
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    Teachers, Technology and (Re)Training
    (1999-12-01) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    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.
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    Technical and vocational education and training by distance: Report of an International Conference Convened by The Commonwealth of Learning
    (1990) Foks, Jack; Innes, Sheila; Sangster, Alfred; Tayless, John; Freeman, Robert; Dhanarajan, Gajaraj; Timmers, S; Dekkers, John; Parker, Helen; Timmins, Judith; Varage, K; Qureshi, M Z
    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.
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    Trends in the Governance of Asian Open Universities: Preliminary Findings
    (2016-11) Kaushik, Madhulika; Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Like all organisations, good governance is fundamental to responsible and accountable management of universities. There have been studies on governance of universities but almost all address the conventional, face to face institutions. Open universities on account of the semi industrial managerial processes required to efficiently operate the large systems, multiple locations, distributed and very diverse learner populations as well as the requirements of openness and attendant flexibilities, present a very different managerial challenge as compared to conventional universities and may have evolved governance structures/processes/systems to respond to these challenges. The present study is an attempt to explore the trends that define and exemplify governance in Asian Open universities, through a sample study of select open universities in the region, representing mega and medium sized institutions, in both public and private domains. The study is intended to be an exploratory study, an initial attempt to understand and analyse the existing patterns before in depth analysis into the evolution and rationale for these structures can be initiated in later studies. The study is a work in progress and this presentation reports some initial findings. // Paper ID 558