Dr Frits Pannekoek - President of the ICDE
Professor O Jegede - Chairperson of the African Council for Distance learning (ACDE)
Professor Barney Pityana - Principal and Vice Chancellor of UNISA
Dr C Holmberg - Secretary General of the ICDE
Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki - CEO NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA)
Presidents, Vice Chancellors and Chief Executive officers of Universities
Professor N Baijnath - Chairperson of the Local Organising committee
Members of the international and local organising committees
Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for the invitation to address this esteemed gathering of leaders of open learning and distance education institutions around the world. I trust that your deliberations so far have been fruitful and that as you chart the way forward, the link between quality and distance learning is maintained as this is key to the success of this mode of teaching and learning. The benefit of distance education is interwoven with the infinite possibilities and new vistas that it opens up in terms of widening access and the inherent capacity to empower.
Both in developed and developing countries, distance education is a conduit to enabling individuals to pursue their educational dreams. Traditionally, governments have introduced distance education provision in order to increase access to learning and training opportunity; provide increased opportunities for updating, retraining and personal enrichment; improve cost-effectiveness of educational resources; support the quality and a variety of existing educational structures; and to enhance and consolidate capacity.
It is appropriate that this meeting takes place here at South Africa's largest, dedicated, comprehensive, Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution. We recognise the role that UNISA plays in addressing national development and transformational challenges. With over 260 000 students spread across several countries from Canada to Eritrea, its social mandate is to provide equitable, affordable and flexible access to higher education. UNISA accounts for more than 32,7 percent of the total enrolments in higher education in South Africa and reaches 20 000 or so students from other countries in Africa.
In 2009, my department awarded R2,3 million to the African Council for distance education with a view that it would assist in the following projects:
- Establishing and developing a sustainable Pan-African Framework and programme of collaboration and partnership among African Open and Distance learning universities
- The establishment of a Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency for open and distance learning
- This investment we think is important given the vital role of ODL on our continent.
Open distance learning, if properly conceptualised, could be a key ingredient in a long-term governmental strategy for development. It is fast becoming an accepted and indispensable part of traditional educational systems in both developed and developing countries. While, ODL in a developing country may not be the answer in every respect, it should be seen as an invaluable mechanism to extend access to educational opportunities, particularly in higher education.
The development of a well-designed and quality distance education system based on the principles of open learning is the only feasible approach to meeting the needs of the vast numbers of the South African people who were systematically deprived of educational opportunity in the past and, we must admit, many of whom continue to be deprived. At the same time open distance education can still provide opportunities for the youth coming up through the schooling system at present.
Revitalisation of higher education in Africa is an important tool for advancing the development of the African continent and open distance learning is a promising and practical strategy to address the challenge of widening access to higher education. The focus of distance and open learning in Africa has in recent years shifted from being something which is just desirable to becoming a reality with the establishment of distance education institutions in a number of African states.
It is increasingly being seen as an educational delivery model which is cost-effective without sacrificing quality. It thus plays a very critical and central role in enhancing participation currently within the South African context where demand far exceeds the resources and opportunities available in the traditional contact institutions. What must be acknowledged are the significant and serious challenges which have to be overcome, relating to financial resources, intellectual capital and sustainability as well as the standard and quality of the delivery.
Higher Education has a crucially important role in societies. In developing societies with high levels of poverty and serious development challenges, it has the social responsibility to advance our understanding of many social, economic, scientific and cultural issues and specifically to understand them within the context of our development challenges. Higher education should lead society in generating global knowledge to address global challenges, including poverty, unemployment, food security, climate change, water management, intercultural dialogue, renewable energy, public health and education.
A particularly important role for higher education institutions in developing countries, especially in Africa, is to help to break their heavy dependence on the developed countries and to establish relations of equality in which we consume and utilise the knowledge produced in other countries but also make original and innovative contributions to the knowledge of humanity. The knowledge of Africa has been marginalised and devalued for so long that sometimes we lose belief in our own creativity and the validity of our own ideas. In this respect, we could do worse than studying the experiences of developing countries like China, South Korea or India which have anchored development and modernity on their own cultural traditions.
This is not to say that we should weaken our relations with the countries of the north – just that we must work systemically to transform those interactions into relations of equality and mutual benefit. The evolution of a quality African higher education and research function needs to be stimulated through institutional, national, regional and international collaboration and partnerships.
International cooperation in higher education should be based on solidarity and mutual respect and the promotion of humanistic values and intercultural dialogue. International university networks and partnerships are a part of this evolution and will help to enhance mutual understanding and a culture of peace. Partnerships for research as well as staff and student exchanges are initiatives that can help bridge the development gap. The encouragement of academic staff mobility integrated into multicultural collaboration and partnerships will enhance the creation of national knowledge.
This will ensure diversified sources of quality research peers and knowledge production, on a regional and global scale. Therefore more collaboration initiatives between institutions in the north and south should be encouraged – and so too should an increasing, indeed accelerate, number of south-south collaborations.
The struggle for greater independence and an equal place in the world of knowledge production and dissemination is obviously a long term project and it is itself to some extent dependent on economic growth. However, it is important that we keep the ultimate goals of intellectual independence and equality in mind and ensure that they inform our plans and our attitudes.
For example, while we participate in a worldwide brain circulation, we must do everything in our power to work towards ensuring that we are not perpetual losers who contribute their best intellectuals to other continents and gain little in return. Among other things, this means giving priority to the care of our academics and other intellectuals and to identifying niches in which we can excel.
Higher Education, notwithstanding the social and economic circumstances constraining its progress in developing countries, remains an engine of development. This new momentum can provide a trajectory in the fight against under-development and poverty in Africa. This will demand greater attention to higher education and research in Africa than has been given for the immediate past.
Over the last two decades, internationalisation of distance education has provided many opportunities for developing countries to realise their own system-wide goals. Two main factors have led to an explosion of distance learning: (i) the growing need for continual skills upgrading and retraining; and (ii) the technological advances that have made it possible to teach more and more subjects at a distance.
Cross-border provision of higher education through the principles of open learning can make a significant contribution to higher education provided it offers quality education, promotes academic values, maintains relevance and respects the basic principles of dialogue and cooperation, mutual recognition and respect for human rights, diversity and national sovereignty. Alarmingly, cross-border higher education can also create opportunities for fraudulent and low-quality providers of higher education and this need to be counteracted vigorously.
Fraudulent or “imitation” providers are a serious problem. Combating these artificial providers or “degree-mills” as they are also referred to requires multi-pronged efforts at national and international levels. Globalisation has highlighted the need for the establishment of national accreditation and quality assurance systems along with promotion of networking among them.
Quality assurance is a vital function in contemporary higher education and must involve all stakeholders. Quality requires both establishing quality assurance systems and criteria of assessment as well as promoting a quality culture within institutions. Regulatory and quality assurance mechanisms and the development of global standards that promote access and create conditions for the completion of studies should be a priority.
Whilst it is necessary to ensure that there are mechanisms for increasing access to higher education, it is also no less necessary to ensure that learners enjoy an educational experience that leads to sound learning, and therefore results in educational success. In the past sixteen years, South Africa has made tremendous strides to improve access and ensure equity and quality simultaneously. These efforts are nonetheless still insufficient and I am committed to ensuring that they continue.
Access alone is not enough and much more needs to be done to ensure the success of our learners. The objective must be successful participation and completion while at the same time assuring student welfare. This must include appropriate financial and educational support to those from poor and marginalised communities also addressing different types of learners and learning styles. Therefore after decades of expansion in higher education of which distance educations was a major driver, policy attention in developing countries has begun to focus on the outcomes of higher education, its quality, relevance and impact. My department has been working on development of a distance education policy that will take into account the issues that I have raised.
Open distance learning approaches and the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) present opportunities to widen access to quality education and ensure student success, particularly when Open Educational Resources are readily shared by many countries and higher education institutions. The historical evolution of distance education developed through various phases, each derived from a main form of communication - from a crude correspondence mode in the 18th century which promoted self-study, to educational television, radio, multimedia and internet-based systems. A range of technological devices is now widely available at relatively low cost: for example a CD-ROM with access to databases and electronic libraries, promotes and enables a teacher-student and student-student interaction. Through modern electronically based approaches which promote effective student and academic management and learner support, instruction is no longer an individual lecturer’s work, but the work of teams of specialists - media specialists, information specialists, instructional design specialists, and learning specialists.
Programmes are prepared for distribution for large numbers of learners, usually located across a whole country – or indeed across many countries. Poorer countries, especially in Africa are struggling to afford the cost of technology-intensive education. Solutions should be found for countries with developing economies to enable and apply new technologies. Perhaps we need to examine what can be done with existing technologies such as cell phones which have already made inroads into even the poorest countries. Perhaps this avenue is already being explored – but you would know this much better than me.
This ever-growing reliance on technology as a means of management and delivery of educational opportunities has forced open universities within the current economic recession to realign and reprioritise in terms of their funding, capacity and resources. The economic downturn will undoubtedly affect student access and mobility and may widen the gap in access and quality between developed and developing countries as well as within countries, presenting additional challenges to countries where access is already restricted. In this economic crisis, the role of government has once again become central as the policy making processes of government seek to realign national strategies to emerging social and political challenges.
In conclusion, the past decade provides evidence that higher education and research has a significant return on investment. I stress this as we are all working towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and education for all. The global education agenda should reflect these realities by ensuring better trans-border cooperation through the creation of centres of excellence, harmonisation of curricula, and greater sharing of resources across the continents.
I wish you well in the rest of your conference and hope that our international guests have the opportunity to explore at least some of our beautiful country during their stay in South Africa.
I thank you
Enquiries:
Ranjeni Munusamy
Tel: 012 312 5555 or 021 465 5513
Cell: 072 571 2812
E-mail: munusamy.r@dhet.gov.za
