lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region

associations and groups of countries working together on joint educational projects andsharing resources, knowledge and experience. A leading example is UNESCO’s partnerin the creation of this book, the Commonwealth of Learning, launched in 1989 and basedin Vancouver, whose mission is to assist “Commonwealth member governments to takefull advantage of open, distance and technology-mediated learning strategies to provideincreased and equitable access to education and training for all their citizens.” (COL).Other such groupings and networks exist at regional level. For instance, the Council ofEurope and UNESCO have established the European Network of National InformationCentres on academic recognition and mobility (the ENIC network). These centres(ENICs) work in complementarity with the National Academic Recognition Centres(NARICs), established by the European Union.An important role here is also played by bilateral organisations, such as the NetherlandsOrganization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC), whose aimis to help strengthen higher education institutions in its partner countries. It also furthersacademic interchange and student mobility between those countries and the Netherlands,and promotes harmonisation of qualification and recognition systems. Chapter 10 of thisvolume is a contribution by Astrid Scholten and Jindra Divis of NUFFIC, discussingtwo aspects of the Dutch experience in promoting cross-border recognition and mobility.The chapter first addresses the issue of outgoing students and the measures taken by theNetherlands to improve quality assurance and recognition of programmes outside thecountry. Secondly, the authors describe procedures for recognising the competence ofincoming students. The Dutch experience is presented as an example of good practicefrom which others can draw their own lessons.While all of the various international conventions, declarations, processes, networks etc.present a somewhat complex picture, they reduce the need for educational planners anddecision-makers to “reinvent the wheel” in their particular initiatives. There is, however,a further important prerequisite for effective programmes, namely research. In theplanning of distance higher education one needs reliable and up-to-date information andanalysis in a variety of areas, chiefly the following five: (1) learners and their needs; (2)teachers and their needs; (3) the needs of employers and the market; (4) didactic methods;(5) technological developments (such as methods of online delivery of learning material).Tony Bates, in Chapter 11, addresses this topic. He describes how, with the expansionof lifelong learning and distance higher education, the body of research on these areashas grown, yielding very important findings for policy-makers. This body continues toexpand, as it must if the field is to flourish and grow and higher education is to play itsfull part in creating a true learning world.8