4th Annual Australian Higher Education Congress, Innovation in boosting participation: considering the potential of IT, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Sydney, Australia, 8 March 2011, International keynote: Will Higher Education Split? by Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // I was given the topic Innovation in boosting participation: considering the potential of IT, and being an obedient fellow I will talk to that. // You also suggested some sub-topics and I shall address those too. // How can IT be used to boost participation? Innovation to achieve higher participation, A global perspective: reviewing global developments, successes and failures, To what extent will distance learning reform the higher education sector? // I shall begin by enumerating some of the questions around the issue of boosting participation. Then I shall look at the different ways in which innovation can make higher education more open. Then, after giving a sweeping summary of some global developments, I shall conclude with the interesting question of whether distance education will reform the higher education sector. I suspect that it might, but not in ways we all would welcome.