About PCF6

The Sixth Pan Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF6) will take place on 24- 28 November 2010 at Le-Meridien, Cochin Resort & Convention Centre (Kochi, Kerala ), India. The theme of PCF6 is: Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives

PCF6 as an international conference will explore the contribution of open and distance learning to international development goals, by opening up access to learning at every level. The Forum brings together practitioners, researchers, planners and policy makers in the fields of open and distance learning and development from over 70 countries. It provides opportunities to share experience and expertise, and to contribute to future policy and provision. Participants will represent the main Commonwealth, Asia and international institutions and agencies active in the field, including funding bodies and technology providers.

The Commonwealth of Learning’s biennial Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning has grown to become a leading international conference on learning and development.PCF6 brings the forum to India for the first time, jointly organized by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), coinciding with the completion of 25 years of IGNOU.


About the organisers

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. COL is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and training. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, COL is the world's only intergovernmental organisation dedicated solely to promoting and delivering distance education and open learning, and is the only official Commonwealth agency located outside Britain


Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), established by an Act of Parliament in 1985, is the national resource centre for Open and Distance Learning with international recognition and presence, provides seamless access to sustainable and learner-centric quality education, skill up gradation and training to all by using innovative technologies and methodologies, ensuring convergence of existing systems for massive human resource required for promoting integrated national development and global understanding. IGNOU has emerged as the largest mega university in the democratic world.

Prof. M.S. Swaminathan has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as ‘the father of Economic Ecology’ and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations, as ‘a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction’. He was Chairman of the UN Science Advisory Committee set up in 1980 to take follow-up action on the Vienna Plan of Action. He has also served as Independent Chairman of the FAO Council and President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

A plant geneticist by training, Prof. Swaminathan is widely acknowledged as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to an ever-green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security.  He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987. Prof. Swaminathan is a Fellow of many of the leading scientific academies of India and abroad.  He currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at  M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (Chennai, India), a non-profit trust which seeks to impart a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development.

Sir John Daniel became President of COL in 2004 after gaining wide international experience in universities and the United Nations system.

He obtained his full-time university education in Metallurgy at Oxford and Paris and later demonstrated his commitment to lifelong learning by taking 25 years to complete a part-time Master's degree in Educational Technology at Concordia University. However, the internship for that programme, which took him to the UK Open University in 1972, was a life-changing experience. He saw the future of higher education and wanted to be part of it.

This quest took him on an international odyssey with appointments at the Télé-université (Directeur des Études, 1973-77), Athabasca University (Vice-President for Learning Services, 1978-80), Concordia University (Vice-Rector, Academic, 1980-84), Laurentian University (President, 1984-90), the UK Open University (Vice-Chancellor, 1990-2001) and UNESCO (Assistant Director-General for Education, 2001-04).Among Sir John's 290 publications are his books Mega-Universities and Knowledge Media: Technology Strategies for Higher Education (Kogan Page, 1996) and Mega-Schools, Technology and Teachers: Achieving Education for All (Routledge, 2010). He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for services to higher education in 1994 and holds over 30 honorary doctorates, fellowships and professorships from universities and professional bodies in 16 countries. He is a citizen of Canada and the UK.

Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai  is  the Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. He is also the Chairman of the Distance Education Council( DEC), which looks after the co-ordination of standards, quality, recognition and developmental assistance to all the 13 State Open Universities, over 150 Distance Education Institutes in the Conventional Universities and in other private Open and Distance Learning institutions in the country.  Prof. Pillai has been at the helm of affairs of many higher education institutions during his career spanning over 37 years. His experiences and contributions to the field of science and educational administration are rich and varied. He has served as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi; Director of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore; Vice-Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala; Vice-Chancellor  of the Cochin University of Science and Technology; Founder-Director of the School of Chemical Sciences; Dean of Faculty of Science; Controller of Examinations; Director of College Development Council; Founder-Director of the School of Professional Distance Education and Chief, Employment and Information Guidance Bureau of the Mahatma Gandhi University.  He is a Fellow of the prestigious Indian Academy of Sciences and an Honorary Senior Fellow of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.

An active teacher and researcher in the field of Chemical Sciences, Prof. Rajasekharan Pillai has held post-doctoral and visiting research professor positions in the Universities of Tubingen (Germany), Mainz (Germany) and Lausanne (Switzerland). He created  an internationally renowned research group in the area of biopolymers and peptides and has published extensively (about 200 refereed research publications in international journals) in this area. Over 50 doctoral researchers have been guided by him, all of them now occupying leading positions in academia, R&D, and industry in India and abroad. His research publications have received over 1600 citations during the last 18 years and he is one among the top-cited chemists in the country. He holds an International patent for the gram-scale preparation of biologically important peptides. In January 2008, he received the Presidential Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress from the Prime Minister of India. In 2007, he has been conferred the Triennial National M. V. Pylee Award for the Top Academician of India. In 2006, Prof. Pillai was recognized by the R.R. Varma Foundation Best Teacher Award. In 2005, he received the Indian Chemical Society Award for his life-long research achievements in the area of chemical sciences. In 1996, Dr. Pillai received the Materials Research Society of India Lecture Award. His contributions to science and education have also been recognized by the conferment of honorary doctorates.  Widely traveled all over the world, Dr. Pillai has presented papers, given invited and plenary lectures, chaired sessions in a large number of National and International conferences, delivered Convocation Addresses, Endowment Lectures and Special Orations  in a large number of Universities and institutions.  He has hosted several National and International discussions meetings including Indian Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting and Vice-Chancellors Conferences.

Professor P.R.Ramanujam is  Professor of Distance Education and Director at the Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE) at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. He was appointed as Director, STRIDE for the period August 2000-August 2005 and again for the second term in 2008. He has contributed substantially since 1986 to the development ,implementation and revisions of the Staff Development Programmes of IGNOU: Diploma in Distance Education (DDE) which was later upgraded as Post-graduate Diploma in Distance Education (PGDDE), and Master of Arts in Distance Education (MADE) that havecreated human resources for ODL in about 45 countries through IGNOU-COL-Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship Scheme (1996-2004) , IGNOU-IICBA (UNESCO) scheme (2000-2004) and other initiatives. He has published 4 books (single authored) ,edited 2 books and written about 100 papers. His specializations are: Open Learning, Disability Studies and English Literature.  He is Chief Editor of Indian Journal of Open Learning, one of the five refereed international journals in the field.

 Quest for Reconciliation:Marxist Encounters with Modernism;Marxism, Ideology&Literary criticism;Reflections on Distance Education for India;Distance Open Learning—Challenges to Developing Countries;Globalisation, Education &Open Distance Learning are some of his titles extensively cited by scholars around the world.He co-edited Higher Education in India:Crisis in Management by V.C.Kulandaiswamy.Professor Ramanujam played a key role in setting up the sophisticated Multimedia Lab of the Inter-University Consortium and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Freedom Struggle Studies at IGNOU .As a Master Trainer he has conducted about 500 workshops, given consultancy to a number of national and international organisations.His contribution to the BA in Applied Sign Language Studies following a UKIERI, Research award in 2008, and his contribution to Civil Paths to Peace initiative of the COL are some of his recent achievements.