ICDE presents at 3rd High Level Roundtable for Vice-Chancellors and Heads of ODL Institutions
Group photo of all participants at the Roundtable
On 29 and 30 July, ICDE participated and spoke at the 3rd High Level Roundtable for Vice-Chancellors and Heads of ODL Institutions in Penang, Malaysia. The Roundtable was hosted by ICDE members Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Asia e University (AeU).
ICDE Secretary General, Ms. Torunn Gjelsvik, was a panelist in the session titled “Role of Universities in Promoting SDGs” and moderated the session “Leaving No One Behind”. The themes of the Roundtable included:
Innovations during COVID-19
Role of Universities in promoting SDG 4
Equity and Inclusion
Technology for quality education
Employability - focusing on Reskilling, and;
Building resilient institutions
The panel on the “Role of Universities in Promoting SDGs” was moderated by COL’s President and CEO, Dr. Asha Kanwar, and the ICDE SG was accompanied on the panel by Prof. Dr. Lily Chan, Vice-Chancellor of Wawasan Open University (WOU) from Malaysia and Dr. Daniel Tau, Vice-Chancellor of Botswana Open University (BOU). The panel “Leaving No One Behind”, moderated by Ms. Gjelsvik, included the panellists Dr. Melinda Bandalaria, President of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), Dr. Heroldt Murangi, CEO of Namibia College of Open Learning (NAMCOL), and Ms. Joelle Perreau, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Seychelles (UNISEY).
Summary from the Roundtable
To read the full Summary Report from the 3rd High Level Roundtable for Vice-Chancellors and Heads of ODL Institutions, please click here.
Highlights from the panels
The ICDE Secretary General, Torunn Gjelsvik, started her intervention on Roles of Universities in promoting SDGs by explaining how equitable access to education for all is dependent of many critical factors. She highlighted internet connectivity and affordable band-width costs, open admission policies from universities, modularisation of programmes and courses allowing for flexible pace and progression, and not the least that qualification frameworks, quality assurance (QA) and accreditation systems integrate and adopt open, online and distance education. Furthermore, the ICDE SG made the point that universities could strengthen their focus on lifelong learning as a tool to empower the entire population in securing relevant skills to support the achievements of the SDGs.
In the panel Leaving No One Behind moderated by Ms. Gjelsvik, she iterated that an important aspect to address is social injustice of marginalised populations and that social inclusion, equity and non-discrimination should be an integral part of all education programs. She also challenged the panelists with the question; “whether the lessons learned from handling the COVID-19 pandemic can help universities to embrace open, flexible and distance learning to increase quality education and training by using open access, open educational resources (OER) and open science, so that no one is left behind?”
Launch of the ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign - Asia Task Force
The Roundtable also served as a great opportunity to launch the regional campaign of the Asia Task Force as part of the ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign (GAC). The ICDE GAC Asia Task Force is co-chaired by ICDE Board member Dr. Melinda Bandalaria, President of UPOU, and former ICDE Board member Prof. Dato Ansary Ahmed, Founding President of AeU. The Task Force is hopeful in galvanising the collective sources and expertise of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (OFDL) practitioners across Asia, from Japan to Turkey, in making the campaign a reality to ensure OFDL becomes a strategy that enables economic, social, political, and digital justice throughout the region.
Find out more here.
From left: Dr. Melinda Bandalaria (co-chair of the ICDE GAC Asia Task Force), Dr. Asha Kanwar (President and CEO of COL), Torunn Gjelsvik (ICDE Secretary General), Prof. Dato Ansary Ahmed (co-chair of the ICDE GAC Asia Task Force)
