Commonwealth virtual university offers new courses
The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth, including Seychelles, is now offering new short courses to allow more people to benefit from training.
This was said by the university’s education specialist John Lesperance during a press conference at the Maison Quéau de Quinssy on Friday.
A virtual university, or e-university, is an education institution that does not have a physical presence but exists in an entirely virtual state, accessible via the internet.
Seychellois Mr Lesperance said there are three new online courses – managing and facilitating online instruction; sustainable tourism; and Linux for information technology managers. And people here have already enrolled to follow them online.
He added that all the courses are free as the Commonwealth gets funding from various organisations.
Mr Lesperance said the university, which started in 2008, was an initiative of Finance Minister Danny Faure in 2000 when he was Minister for Education. He put forward the idea during a ministers’ meeting where he identified six areas of training – tourism, entrepreneurship, agriculture, disaster management, education, and leadership and management.
Mr Lesperance said the university provides training for people from 32 small states, in partnership with education ministries and other educational bodies.
“We are also looking into the possibility of introducing degree courses soon,” he said.
Mr Lesperance said interested candidates can log on to www.vussc.info to get more information about the university or can contact the Ministry of Education.
He added that the Commonwealth plans to set up a platform to allow other educational institutions to offer affordable courses online.
A national qualifications framework will be established to allow these courses to be recognised worldwide and this “has also encouraged countries outside the Commonwealth to show an interest in such a programme”.
Mr Lesperance, who is based in Vancouver, Canada, took up his post last year and during his visit here has had the chance to meet a group of Seychellois who have followed online training with the virtual university.