Chronology of COL Events and Achievements

2008

• More than 700 delegates from 70 countries attend the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF5) at the University of London in July 2008. The theme of PCF5 was "Access to Learning for Development". More than 320 papers, workshops and discussions around the forum's four main action themes: Children and young people; Governance, conflict and social justice; Health; and Livelihoods.
• COL's Excellence in Distance Education Awards were presented at PCF5 (including eight new Honorary Fellows).
• COL regional Focal Points meet in the Caribbean in March 2008 and in Africa in May 2008.
• COL receives a grant of US$750,000 from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for the development of open educational resources (OERs) for open schools in developing countries.
• More than 700 people are trained in wiki skills for content editing in online and face-to-face workshops through COL's Learning4Content initiative.
• COL launches a new Gender micro-site to promote gender equality and to increase awareness, knowledge and skills specifically related to gender and ODL/ICT.
• The Honourable Burchell Whiteman, O.J. is appointed Chair of COL's Board of Governors. Ms. Jenny Glennie is appointed Vice-Chair.
• Three new members are appointed to COL's Board of Governors: the Honourable Senator Hazel Manning (Caribbean), Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr (Africa) and the Honourable Zahiya Zareer (Asia).
• COL adds two new courses to its suite of Writing Effectively programmes: Writing Effectively for UNICEF India and Writing Audit Reports for the Auditing division of the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services.
• COL hosts a two-week study tour in Canada for 13 vice-chancellors and registrars of Pakistan universities. 
• Course materials from the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) are freely available online. To date, 30 small states have committed to VUSSC and more than 80 people have taken part in VUSSC workshops.
• Botswana, India, Jamaica, Nigeria and the United Kingdom announce they will increase their financial support of COL. A record 38 countries contributed to COL in 2006-2007.
• COL lends its expertise in open and distance learning (ODL) to governance initiatives in Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
• COL completes institutional audits of the University of South Africa (Unisa) and the University of Ghana.
• Three new members are appointed to COL's Board of Governors: Mr. R.P. Agarwal (India), The Honourable Dr. Dame Carol Kidu (Pacific) and Dr. Linda Sissons (New Zealand).
• COL releases "Open Schooling for Secondary and Higher Education", a report that focuses on the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India and the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL). 
  

2007 

2006

• COL hosts its Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF4) in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in partnership with UWIDEC and a Caribbean consortium also including CARADOL, JADOL, TTDLA and CEODL. COL's Fourth Excellence in Distance Education Awards (including Honorary Fellows of COL).
• Professor Asha Singh Kanwar is named Vice President of COL.
• COL hosts the first Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) collaborative materials development workshop for educators from 13 Commonwealth small states.
• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provides financial support for VUSSC.
• The Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) provides £1 million to COL for VUSSC.
• COL introduces a template for instructional design that helps content developers to convert their subject matter expertise into learning materials.
• COL launches WikiEducator, a website that provides free eLearning content that anyone can edit and use.
• Commonwealth Ministers of Education endorse COL's Three-year Plan, 2006-2009 and pledge funding for it at the 16th triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Cape Town, South Africa.
• India and New Zealand announce increased funding for COL.
• Lewis Perinbam, O.C. is appointed for a second term as Chair of COL's Board of Governors.
• COL places 11 interns in international posts through its Young Professionals Attachment Programme, funded by Foreign Affairs Canada.

2005

• COL's Poverty Reduction Outcomes through Education Innovations and Networks (COL-PROTEIN) programme announces funding for five projects in Cameroon, India, Kenya, Nigeria and the Solomon Islands.
• COL works with the World Health Organization and non-governmental organisations in The Gambia, India, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland and Tanzania to develop media programmes that address health issues.
• COL introduces Counselling for Caregivers distance education programme for caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa.
• COL supports the establishment of the African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) and Distance Education and Teachers' Training in Africa (DETA).
• COL places 13 interns in international posts through its Young Professionals Attachment Programme, funded by Foreign Affairs Canada.
• 50 educators from Nigeria begin advanced training in ODL by distance through Indira Gandhi National Open University, funded by COL's Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship Scheme
• Ms. Jennifer Glennie, Director of the South Africa Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) is appointed to COL's Board of Governors as the representative for South Africa, upon South Africa becoming one of COL's six major funders.
• Canada also increases its funding to COL.
• The Regional Training and Research Institute for Open and Distance Learning (RETRIDAL) opens at the National Open University of Nigeria as a Centre of Expertise in ODL for all West African countries.
• The Southern Africa Regional Distance Education Centre (SARDEC) is established and subsequently renamed the Southern African Development Community - Centre for Distance Education (SADC-CDE).
• The Centre for Environmental Education in India, in collaboration with COL, introduces "Green Teachers", a Diploma in Environmental Education for teachers.
• The Caribbean Regional Association for Distance and Open Learning (CARADOL) is launched in Trinidad & Tobago with support from COL.
• COL establishes a Learning Object Repository, an online database of learning content that provides software to Commonwealth countries free of charge.
• Institutes - Open and Distance Learning for Development: The role of ODL in delivering MDGs.  5-7 May 2005

 2004

• Sir John Daniel becomes President and Chief Executive Officer of COL; Dato' Professor Gajaraj (Raj) Dhanarajan retires.
• Third Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning held in Dunedin, New Zealand, in collaboration with the Distance Education Association of New Zealand. Third Excellence in Distance Education Awards (including Honorary Fellows of COL).
• COL launches Lifelong Learning for Farmers, an innovative model of agriculture extension using information and communications technologies (ICTs) and micro-finance, in India.
• COL hosts Literacy and Livelihoods Experts meeting in Vancouver.
• Twenty small states of the Commonwealth accept COL's invitation to participate in the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC).
• South Asian Consortium for Teacher Education and Development (SACTED) launched.
• COL introduces Practitioner Research and Evaluation Skills Training (PREST), training resources that provide ODL practitioners with basic knowledge about how to conduct research and evaluation.
• Institutes - Strategies for Sustainable Open and Distance Learning. 7-10 June 2004

2003

• Lewis Perinbam, O.C., is named Chair of COL's Board of Governors.
• COL's report on the feasibility of creating a virtual university to support higher education in small states is approved at the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Edinburgh. Ministers also endorse and pledge funding for COL's new Three-year Plan, 2003-2006

2002

• The Canadian Government doubles financial support for COL, increasing its annual contribution to The Commonwealth of Learning from CDN$1.1 million to $2.2 million.
• The Cambridge-based International Research Foundation for Open Learning (IRFOL) becomes an affiliate of The Commonwealth of Learning.
• UNESCO's Regional Office for Education in Africa - better known by its French acronym, BREDA - and COL begin collaboration on a joint programme for Sub-Saharan Africa, which focuses on open and distance learning initiatives.
• COL in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Singapore, and the National Institute of Education in Singapore, launches a professional development programme for directors and principals of Sub-Saharan African teacher training college. (A similar programme was initiated in association with the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), India, in 2003.)
• Second Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning held in Durban, South Africa, in collaboration with NADEOSA and the National Ministry of Education. Second Excellence in Distance Education Awards (including Honorary Fellows of COL).
• COL introduces Knowledge Finder, an online ODL information retrieval and search service.
• COL's Commonwealth Executive Masters of Business Administration (CEMBA) and Commonwealth Executive Masters of Public Administration (CEMPA) programmes are introduced at four South Asian partner open universities.
• COL is engaged by the World Health Organization to deliver its Writing Effectively distance education programme.

2001

• COL's web site is revamped with a new look and enhanced navigation and functionality, the most substantial change since early 1993 when COL was one of the first organisations to launch a World Wide Web site on the Internet. In recent years, COL significantly expanded its electronic publishing programme and became recognised as one of the world's foremost sources of knowledge on open, distance and technology-mediated learning and its application in developing countries.
• COL begins active collaboration with and support for the newly established SchoolNetAfrica with a framework that includes research, the development of SchoolNetAfrica's knowledge warehouse, a pilot programme on curriculum integration and a major initiative entitled, "Schoolnet Champions Capacity Building Project".
• Nigeria resumes its place as a major financial contributor to COL, which it was when COL was created by Heads of Government in 1987.

2000

• In association with the University of Abertay Dundee and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, COL launches its annual professional development series for African university leadership.
• COL develops a distance education programme, Writing Effectively. Initially launched with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Writing Effectively is subsequently adopted by several other international organisations.
• COL launches its "Knowledge Series" with five titles. The Knowledge Series is a topical, start-up guide to distance education practice and delivery.
• The 14th triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (14CCEM) in Halifax gives COL a renewed mandate and pledges of increased funding over the next three years. Britain leads the way, triples annual contribution.

1999

• COL celebrates its tenth anniversary in Brunei Darussalam, in collaboration with the Government of Brunei and University Brunei Darussalam, with the first Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning, a new video, CD-ROM, anniversary publication, a new Excellence in Distance Education Awards programme (including Honorary Fellows of COL) and the launch of the first volume in the new World Review of Distance Education series, "Higher Education through Open and Distance Learning" (with Routledge/Falmer Press).
• COL mourns the death of its first President, Professor James A. Maraj. 

1998

• Governments of eight Southern African Commonwealth countries begin to work together with COL facilitating their collaboration in training teachers of lower/junior secondary science, mathematics and technology subjects using distance education
• COL, the Commonwealth Secretariat and COMNET-IT jointly launch the Commonwealth Electronic Network for Schools and Education (CENSE) to facilitate contact between national learning grids, schools and institutions throughout the Commonwealth
• COL hosts a first-ever series of four "virtual conferences" as a lead up to the Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning
• COL's Information Resource Centre becomes fully accessible online
• The Commonwealth Distance Training Programme in Legislative Drafting (COL/Commonwealth Secretariat) awards its first completion certificates

1997

• COL joins the World Bank's Global Knowledge partnership
• COL appoints eight Regional Advisers to the President of COL
• Gaborone - Commonwealth Education Ministers support three-year funding committments for COL
• Canada announces the distribution of cdn$1.75 million over five years for COL to run a pilot programme offering Canadian scholarships to students from the Caribbean (Canada Caribbean Distance Education Scholarship Programme)

1996

• COL begins to market its fee-for-service consulting services and wins an Asian Development Bank contract to undertake a regional technical assistance project - capacity building in distance education for primary teacher training
• Extensive staff and management reorganisation implemented to provide a more responsive and flexible approach to programme delivery through a flatter and less-hierarchical organisational structure.
• COL and the Asian Mass Communications Research and Information Centre jointly sponsor Educational Technology 2000: A Global Vision for Open and Distance Learning in Singapore (August)

1995

• COL, India and the world mourn the passing of COL's first Vice President, Professor G. Ram Reddy
• Dato' Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan becomes COL's second President and Chief Executive Officer (September)
• Following a Governance Review, Commonwealth Governments amend their Memorandum of Understanding on COL to provide for more focus for the organisation and a downsized Board of Governors

1994

• Dr. H. Ian Macdonald, O.C. becomes the second Chairman of COL's Board of Governors (January)
• COL joins as a founding partner in WETV - Global Access Television
• COL establishes The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in India
• Also in conjunction with IGNOU, COL launches the Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship Scheme (RGFS), a two-year, distance-delivered Masters of Distance Education programme for education administrators
• COL provides an Internet hub for use by educational institutions in the Commonwealth Caribbean
• Britain announces major funding commitment to COL, delinked from British goods and services

1993

• COL launches its World Wide Web site on the Internet - one of the first organisations in the world to do so
• Dr. H. Ian Macdonald, O.C. chairs the Progress Review of The Commonwealth of Learning and reports that "COL has succeeded in establishing itself as a recognised specialised agency, and in delivering services which are making a valuable contribution to distance education and human resource development in Commonwealth countries"

1992

• COL registers "col.org" Internet domain
• COL develops its Student Record Management System (SRMS) for use by small- to medium- sized distance education institutions throughout the Commonwealth
• Under the aegis of COL, chairs of University Grants Commissions of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka agree to intensify co-operation and call for closer integration of conventional and distance learning institutions
• COL and the Brunei Darussalam Ministry of Education open the COL/Brunei Centre for Professional and Continuing Education
• COL partners with the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) on research and awards programmes

1991

• Harare - Commonwealth Heads of Government comment on the "remarkable progress" made by The Commonwealth of Learning since it last met in Kuala Lumpur in October 1989 (October)

1990

• COL commissions several national consultancy studies and starts projects in all regions of the Commonwealth

1989

• The Commonwealth of Learning becomes operational from headquarters established in Vancouver, with assistance from the Governments of Canada and British Columbia (1 January)
• Professor James A. Maraj , becomes COL's first President and Chief Executive Officer
• Professor G. Ram Reddy joins COL as its first Vice President
• Kuala Lumpur - COL's first appearance and its Board of Governors' first report to a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)
• Study Fellowship programme is implemented in co-operation with the Government of British Columbia
• The Government of UK establishes the International Centre for Distance Learning at The Open University in Milton Keynes to provide an information database to complement COL's work.

1988

• The Working Group, appointed to develop institutional arrangements for Commonwealth co-operation in distance education and chaired by [Sir] John Daniel - the "Daniel Report" - recommends the creation of The Commonwealth of Learning with headquarters in Vancouver and an information service based at the UK Open University
• Commonwealth Governments sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of The Commonwealth of Learning (1 September)
• COL's first Board of Governors is appointed, under the chairmanship of the Rt. Hon. Lord Briggs of Lewes (Asa Briggs)

1987

• Towards a Commonwealth of Learning (Commonwealth Co-operation in Distance Education and Open Learning, a Report by a Commonwealth Group of Experts, chaired by the Rt. Hon. Lord Briggs of Lewes) - the "Briggs Report" - recommends the establishment of a "University of the Commonwealth for Co-operation in Distance Education"
• Vancouver - Commonwealth Heads of Government agree to create "a Commonwealth institution to promote co-operation in distance education," with major funding pledges from Brunei Darussalam, Canada, India, Nigeria and the Province of British Columbia (October)

1985

• Nassau - Commonwealth Heads of Government request the Secretary General to explore the scope of new Commonwealth initiatives in distance learning (October)