The Commonwealth Games may get the spotlight, but, around the same time, there is another major Commonwealth initiative heading to India next year.

The sixth edition of the Commonwealth of Learning’s (COL) biennial Pan-Commonwealth Forum (PCF6) on Open Learning, which has grown to become a leading international conference on learning and development, will be held in Kochi, Kerala, India, from November 24 to 28, 2010 hosted by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)

Some of the eminent names in education in the world from 70 countries will be delegates in this Forum. The conference will be steered by myself and luminaries such as eminent scientist and Member of Parliament Professor M.S. Swaminathan  and Sir John Daniel, president, COL. The Key Note and Invited Speakers will be Reputed Academics and Educational Leaders including Nobel Laureates.

A series of online workshops, pre-conference and post-conference seminars will be organised over the next year in order to focus on the theme of PCF6, ‘Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives.’ The conference is being jointly organised by the Commonwealth of Learning and Indira Gandhi National Open University, which is the world’s largest university with a full range of programmes. This conference will showcase IGNOU’s experience in distance education and open schooling to the world. It is also an opportunity for the corporate world to demonstrate it s stake in expanding educational footprints in India.

The Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning has grown to become one of the world’s leading conferences on open learning and global development. PCF6 in Kochi aims to consider what Open and Distance Learning has done and still can do in terms of success. Four main themes are being taken up under the overall theme of 'Access and Success: Global Development Perspectives to Learning for Development'. They are: Social Justice, Community Development, Skills Development andFormal Education. Parallel sessions will be held in tandem on different themes and topics.

We request the Government Departments and Public Sector Undertakings to support this venture by providing sponsorship. We also invite Corporate entities and NGOs to take advantage of the sponsorship opportunities to increase their national and international visibility. There will also be an element of prestige involved in associating with such a major global event. The appendices include additional information which will give perspective on the rare early bird opportunities on offer for sponsors.

(V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai)
Vice- Chancellor of IGNOU

About PCFs

COL's Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning is held biennially, co-hosted with different partners in different regions of the Commonwealth each time. The five-day programme is designed to address open and distance learning through widening educational access, bridging the digital divide and by advancing the social and economic development of communities and nations at large. The Forum's focus is on topics relating to, and participation by, societies in developing countries. COL's Excellence in Distance Education Awards are also presented at the Forum. About 1000 policy makers and practitioners are expected to attend PCF6 in Kochi, with several hundred more participating from remote locations.

About COL, the Commonwealth and IGNOU

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.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of more than 50 independent sovereign states, which provide support to each other, and work together toward international goals. The Commonwealth is described as a "family" of nations, originally linked together in the British Empire, and now building on their common heritage in language, culture and education, which enables them to work together in an atmosphere of greater trust and understanding than generally prevails among nations.

Bringing together some 1.7 billion people of many faiths, races, languages, traditions and levels of economic development, the Commonwealth represents almost one-third of the world's population.

IGNOU

The Indira Gandhi National Open University, established by an Act of Indian Parliament in 1985, has emerged as the largest mega University in the democratic world. It began by offering two academic programmes in 1987, with a strength of 4528 students. Today, it serves the educational aspirations of nearly 2 million students in India and 33 other countries through the twenty-one Schools of Study and a network of 59 regional centres, more than 2300 Learner Support Centres and around 52 overseas centres. The University offers 175 (as of Jan. 2009) Certificate, Diploma, Degree and Doctoral programmes, comprising around 1500 courses, with a strength of 380 faculty members and academic staff at the Headquarters and Regional Centres and about 36,000 counsellors from conventional institutions of higher learning, professionals from various organisations, among others.

COL’s Programmes

Education  

Education is one of COL's two programme sectors. The four initiatives in this sector - Open Schooling, Teacher education, Higher education and the Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth - reflect the wide pan-Commonwealth consensus on priorities that emerged during COL’s consultation process.

Open schooling

Worldwide, 513 million pupils were enrolled in secondary schools in 2005, an increase of 17% over 1999. Under this initiative, COL will work with policy-makers, practitioners and managers responsible for secondary education to equip governments to cope with the increased demand for secondary schooling. Its aim is to ensure that countries have the capacity to plan and implement sustainable open schooling at the secondary level.

Teacher education

Although school enrolments and teacher supply have expanded significantly since the Dakar Forum on Education for All in 2000, many challenges remain. Increasing the number and quality of teachers is crucial for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All. COL will work in partnership with teacher training institutions, ministries and development partners active in this field in the developing countries of the Commonwealth.

Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth

Although most of the 32 small states of the Commonwealth have at least one post-secondary institution, the limited programme offerings mean that many students must travel abroad to study. This has a high foreign exchange cost and a proportion of students never come back home. COL has determined that 70% of the small states have implemented regulatory frameworks for the accreditation of qualifications. The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth is helping countries expand course offerings collaboratively.

The VUSSC network involves almost all the Commonwealth’s 32 small states, which are now the principal actors in its management. Thanks to the collective efforts of VUSSC partners since 2004, hundreds of government officials and staff members of tertiary institutions have acquired advanced information and communications technology skills, eLearning materials have been created in six professional areas, and a Transnational Qualifications Framework has been established.

Livelihoods & Health 

Livelihoods & Health is one of COL's two programme sectors. Improving the livelihoods and health of millions of people is a central challenge of development. The four initiatives in this sector - Skills development, Learning for farming, Healthy Communities and Integrating eLearning - are supported by ODL, which can scale up quality learning in a cost-effective manner and help make remote and resource-poor communities more productive.

Skills development

Youth unemployment is a global challenge. Forty-five percent of the world’s young people without work, many of them young women, live in the Asia and Pacific regions. In Africa, the challenge is to find productive employment for 7 to 10 million new entrants to the labour market every year. Eighty percent of jobs worldwide require technical and vocational skills.

The challenge is to provide cost-effective and flexible learning opportunities to large numbers of people. Successful ODL models can be replicated and shared in other jurisdictions. COL advocates the development of national and institutional policy for the use of ODL in order to scale up opportunities for skills development.

Learning for Farming

Of the 1.1 billion people living on less than $1 a day, 75% live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for both food and income. COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers model promotes prosperity by blending social capital and banking services with the innovative use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This model can enable many thousands of poor farmers, men and women, to learn and earn.

Healthy Communities

The international community has declared its commitment to reverse the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Good health is a prerequisite for learning and earning a livelihood. Throughout the Commonwealth, disease and illness take an enormous toll on education systems, livelihoods and productivity. COL aims to increase access to appropriate information, knowledge, learning materials and tools, enabling better community responses to HIV/AIDS and other health and development challenges, particularly in remote and resource-poor areas.

Integrating eLearning

Connectivity, rather than access to computers, is now the defining feature of the digital divide. COL is thoroughly engaged in this movement through the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth, which is playing a major role in bridging the digital divide in the small states. Commonwealth countries want to integrate eLearning into their educational systems but often do not know where to start. COL helps countries and institutions to understand eLearning and implement it using technologies that are practical, user-friendly and compatible with available and existing equipment.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

The conclave provides an effective opportunity for sponsors to promote their product/service to a focused audience and to network with influential educators and educational technology experts, thought leaders, and development professionals during tea/ coffee and lunch intervals. Sponsors are assured of full visibility, including printing of names/logos on main conference banners, proceedings and other publicity material . Sponsors will also have the privilege of registering delegates exempted from payment of registration fee as indicated hereunder:                  

The Number of Sponsors in each category will be limited to only One Diamond and Two Platinum Sponsor, Three Gold and Six Silver Sponsors.

There will also be opportunities for placing s talls and banners and placards of various sizes and configurations. Sponsorships of individual sessions / events, hosting of dinners, cocktail receptions for delegates will also be available.

Sponsorship funding can also be directed to specific areas such as travel subsidies for delegates who would otherwise not have the opportunity to attend. Otherwsie, sponsorships allow the organisers to keep the costs of attending as low as possible. PCF6 is highly subsidised by both COL and IGNOU as major sponsors themselves and no profits are made from the event by the organizers.

If your institution would like to take advantage of the above early bird offer, please provide an ‘Expression of Interest’ by writing to us at the following address:

Director
Academic Program Committee, PCF6
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Block No 14
Maidan Garhi
New Delhi 110068
INDIA
Email: prrpcf6@pcf6.net 

Relevant Websites:-

www.col.org/pcf6 (Kochi, 2010)

www.col.org

www.ignou.ac.in

www.col.org/pcf5 (London, 2008)