The UNESCO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCO Bangkok), supported by the ASEAN Cyber University (ACU), has initiated a project to facilitate a policy-level dialogue among different stakeholders of Open and Distance e-Learning (ODeL) to promote cross-border provision and recognition of ODeL-based higher education. 

A Regional Policy Forum will be held to serve as a venue for presenting the initial findings of the scoping study on the promotion of ASEAN regional integration through open and distance higher education, as well as contribute to the objectives of the study:

• create a better understanding of the current status of open and distance higher education in ASEAN member countries and beyond, offered by both OUs and traditional universities, focusing on national qualification frameworks (macro), recognition and accreditation of degrees (meso) and quality assurance of ODL courses (micro)

• provide a regional platform to deliberate on policy requirements that reinforce cross-border provision and recognition of open and distance higher education

• facilitate continuous collaboration and partnership among numerous stakeholders.

Expected Outcomes

•  comments on the initial findings of the scoping study and updates on the status of Open and Distance Higher Education in the ASEAN countries, which will be incorporated in the final version of the scoping study
• initial deliberation on policy requirements that reinforce cross-border provision and recognition of Open and Distance Higher Education among ASEAN countries 
• an engaged and active network of stakeholders who are able to contribute to current study, as well as in the follow-up study

Participants

The Forum will be attended by national researchers from each of the ASEAN countries who are participating in the scoping study, alongside officials from ACU and selected experts in the field of open and distance higher education.

Date and Venue

23-24 November 2015  |  Radisson Blu Plaza, Bangkok, Thailand

Resources 

• Concept Note (PDF 400 kb)

• Administrative Note (PDF 330 kb)

• Programme (PDF 313 kb)

• Draft Report - A Scoping Study on the Promotion of ASEAN Integration through Open and Distance Higher Education (PDF 995 kb)

• ACU Guidelines for e-Learning Course Management QA in Higher Education (PDF 6mb)

• ACU Self-Evaluation Tool for e-Learning Course Management (URL)

• Instructions for accessing ACU Self-Evaluation Tool for e-Learning Course Management (PDF 565 kb)

Overview of Meeting (Ms. Jonghwi Park, Programme Specialist for ICT in Education, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Bangkok, Thailand)  -  pdf-400kb

Session 1: Proposition of ODeL for ASEAN Integration

• Activities and Plans of SEAMEO on Open Distance Higher Education (Dr. Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, Deputy Director, Programme and Development, SEAMEO Secretariat)  -  pdf-2.1mb

• Vision and Stance of ASEAN Cyber University (Dr. Eunjoo Lee, Vice President, Seoul Cyber University; Director General, ASEAN Cyber University)  -  pdf-3mb

• Scoping Study on the Promotion of ASEAN Integration through Open and Distance Higher Education: Rationale, Objectives, Framework (Dr. Alexander Flor, Professor and Chair, Doctor of Communication Program, Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, University of the Philippines Open University)  -  pdf-370kb

Session 2:

• Scoping Study: Regional and Selected Country Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations (Dr. Alexander Flor, Professor and Chair, Doctor of Communication Program, Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, University of the Philippines Open University)  -  pdf-535kb

Session 3: Quality Assurance and Accreditation of ODeL 

• Quality Assurance and Accreditation of ODeL - Korea Case; Issues and Challenges (Dr. Sung-Ho Kwon, Professor, Department of Educational Technology, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea)  -  pdf-5.1mb

• Quality Assurance and Accreditation at the Commission on Higher Education, Philippines (Dr. Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, Deputy Director, Programme and Development, SEAMEO Secretariat)  -  pdf-545kb

Session 4: Recognition of Qualifications

• Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education: Exploring Regional Conventions and Implications for ODL (Mr. Wesley Teter, Senior Consultant, APEID, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Bangkok, Thailand)  -  pdf-442kb

• Qualifications Recognition Across Different Modalities (Dr. Richard Wah, Executive Chairman of the Fiji Higher Education Commission)  -  pdf-1.6mb

Session 5: Infrastructure and Access

• Infrastructure and Access Challenges and Opportunities for Asia and the Pacific (Dr. Fay Patel, Former Director, Education Management, Monash University Malaysia)  -  pdf-1.4mb

• Infrastructure and Access in the ASEAN: Focus on Lao PDR (Dr. Alexander Flor, Professor and Chair, Doctor of Communication Program, Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, University of the Philippines Open University)  -  pdf-894kb

• Impact of Open Education in Global South (Prof. Dr. Arul Chib, Director, Singapore Internet Centre, Nanyang Technological University)  -  pdf-1.4mb

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