The University of Seychelles (UniSey) is now looking into enrolling more people for online courses after signing an agreement yesterday at its Anse Royale headquarters.

This comes after the president and chief executive of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Sir John Daniels, signed the memorandum of understanding with the UniSey vice-chancellor Dr Rolph Payet.

Also present were Dr Payet’s special adviser Bernard Bosredon; Andrew Bellington from the University of London; Philippe Michaud, technical adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr Gerard Adonis, dean of the Faculty of Humanities; Dr George Ah-Thew, dean of the Faculty of Science; and registrar Elvis Julie.

The COL is an intergovernmental organisation set up by Commonwealth heads of government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. It is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and training.

Dr Payet said the COL has helped Seychelles for many years, especially in the field of education.

“It also had its network and activities at university level, but since we did not have a university we were not very active,” he said.

However, he added, Vice-President Danny Faure was involved in launching the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) consortium.

Dr Payet said UniSey will now start playing a more active role and will benefit from several programmes to be put in place soon. For example, the VUSSC will help to develop virtual (online) courses.

He said this year UniSey will also develop its quality assurance system so as to help it gain international recognition and credibility.

It will also help to develop material to improve secondary teaching and empower teachers at  primary and early childhood level.

Sir John said the COL has strong ties with Seychelles, adding that Mr Faure was a dynamic force behind the launch of the VUSSC in 2000 when the small states decided they wanted to work together instead of relying on bigger nations.

He added that the COL is working closely with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to help develop the quality assurance system for UniSey.

They would also like to explore whether they can help Seychelles take advantage of the teacher education programme for sub-Saharan Africa, a partnership project aimed at improving the overall quality of teaching with an emphasis on basic education.

 

Forrás: http://www.nation.sc/