Commonwealth of Learning - COL/UNESCO Workplan Agreement

WORK PLAN AGREEMENT

between

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL)

Under Articles I and V of the Agreement between UNESCO and COL signed on 7 June 1994, which provide for further processes of cooperation, and taking into account the Work Plan agreement signed in April 1999, it is agreed that for the period 2007-09 the parties shall cooperate in the areas listed below in order to advance their respective programmes:

Quality Education for All: The EFA Fast Track Initiative for Universal Primary Education is achieving success in expanding access to millions of children but issues of quality are of increasing concern for the FTI partners, including UNESCO. In this regard, COL will support UNESCO in its task of strengthening the quality of education through attention to learning content, teacher education and pupil assessment.

Teacher Training: In the context of UNESCO's Teacher Training Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA) and within the framework of UNESCO's ICT Competency Standards for Teachers (whenever ICT competencies are concerned), COL will seek to expand the impact of its work on improving the quality of teacher training and expanding the capacity for the training and development of teachers through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) by extending the use of the Pan-Commonwealth guidelines on quality assurance in teacher education. The aim is to relate teacher policy to national development goals; to improve the quality of teacher education; and to improve the delivery of quality teacher education through effective multi-stakeholder partnerships with civil society, private sector and academia.

Education for Sustainable Development: UNESCO's task of coordinating the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) puts it at the centre of various networks that can be used to spread information, materials and good practice. COL is facilitating the preparation of learning materials for environmental education at all levels. The parties will work together in the area of ESD, including the preparation of the Fourth International Conference on Environmental Education (ICEE), to be organised by the Government of India in Ahmedabad in November 2007; UNESCO will be a co-sponsor of the conference.

Quality Assurance in Higher Education: UNESCO and COL are working together on developing cost-effective methods for conducting quality audits and quality assurance in universities, especially in Africa. Lessons will be drawn from the audits currently under way at the University of Ghana and the University of South Africa which involve both UNESCO and COL staff. Furthermore, the two organizations will cooperate in developing tools for quality assurance of eLearning and international criteria for bogus institutions.

Cross-Border Provision in Higher Education: Based on the UNESCO-OECD Guidelines for Cross-Border Education as an international framework, UNESCO-COL cooperation will focus particularly on further research, capacity building and maximising the benefits of cross-border education in developing countries. Special attention will be paid to public/private partnerships and the role of private higher education, both not-for-profit and for-profit, in widening access to quality higher education in developing countries.

Virtual University for Small States: UNESCO will contribute to COL's Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth, an initiative of 28 small states, notably in the development of a Transnational Qualifications Framework and the use of UNESCO's learning materials (e.g. in business management). Furthermore, synergies will be promoted between the COL Virtual University and UNESCO's work with higher education institutions in Small States, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (e.g. UCSIS, QA in small sates, etc.)

Higher Education Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base: Joint work will maximise synergy between UNESCO's HEODL Knowledge Base and the COL/World Bank GDENet project. The aim is to make these tools easy to access and user friendly for decision makers in developing countries.

UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks: COL will offer support to the work of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks in the areas of educational technology and open/distance learning in Commonwealth countries.

UNESCO Associated Schools: UNESCO will initiate cooperation with COL in the implementation of school-based activities within the framework of the UNESCO Associated Schools Network in Commonwealth countries.

Open Educational Resources: Collaborative activities will promote the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and free/libre open source software (FLOSS) to support education in developing countries. These resources will aim to support effective teaching and learning in all levels of education, as well as for in-service teacher education. UNESCO will involve COL in the continuing work on OER awareness raising and network building. UNESCO and COL will work together to create a French version of WikiEducator and a French chapter of the FLOSS4Edu project to help teachers develop free content using free software tools.

Science and TVET will be a special focus for materials development. Particular attention will be paid to facilitating the exchange of TVET curricula and materials between countries, with a focus on developing countries.

Furthermore, UNESCO and COL will work together on the development of standards for learning objects and the development of universal digital libraries of educational resources.

UNESCO/COL Computer Navigator's Certificate: UNESCO and COL will work together to finalize COL's initial investment to reconfigure the Open ICDL materials making it a joint UNESCO/COL initiative and UNESCO will strive to broaden the dissemination scope to all UNESCO Member States. The new UNESCO/COL Computer Navigator's Certificate will be mapped against the "ICT-Competency Standards for Teachers" developed by UNESCO and further improved or extended if needed.

WikiEducator project: UNESCO and COL will explore opportunities for collaboration in WikiEducator activities. Most particularly, UNESCO will help to expand access and dissemination, incorporating multilingual/cultural aspects so that the outcomes can benefit all UNESCO Member States.

Copyright and Intellectual Property: Providing learners and institutions with low-cost access to knowledge products and learning materials is an objective shared by UNESCO and COL. They will work together to give Member States a deeper understanding of copyright and possible flexibilities within the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and of the various types of Creative Commons licenses.

Community Radio: UNESCO and COL will take advantage of the complementary nature of UNESCO's work with governments like India at the policy level and CEMCA/COL's programme of capacity building and empowering NGOs to use community radio.

Distance Learning version of IIEP's Advanced Training Programme (ATP): COL will share its expertise in ODL with IIEP for the development of a distance learning courses and strategies.

5^th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning: COL will ensure that UNESCO has an active role through membership of the programme committee, speakers and sponsorship of delegates in PCF5 to be held in London in July 2008 to mark the 150^th anniversary of the University of London's External Degree Programme and the 20^th anniversary of COL.

eLearning in International Organizations: COL has an active programme of eLearning courses for the staff of international Organizations (WHO, ILO, World Bank, UNHCR) notably in the areas of communication and writing skills. The possibility of UNESCO participation in this programme will be explored.

eLearning programme on ICT in Education: UNESCO and COL will also look at opportunities for cooperation in the development of an e-learning programme on the appropriate use of ICT in education. Offering capacity building on ICT in ED online, on CD-ROMs or in a blended learning format would allow both organizations to show and practice innovative and cost-effective ways of reaching their audiences with high quality learning offers.

South-South Co-operation in Open Schooling: UNESCO and COL will collaborate in strengthening south-south cooperation in open schooling as a feasible alternative to conventional classroom education, particularly for girls, women and other disadvantaged groups. Based on COL's expertise in open schooling, both organizations will promote the use of alternative schooling offerings outside the Commonwealth in order to increase access and inclusion in quality learning for all.

Specific activities under these headings will be identified in line with each organization's own programme and budget (for UNESCO 34 C/5; for COL the triennial plan 2006-09). For each of the areas individuals will be named as coordinators in UNESCO and COL respectively. These individuals will liaise with each other and make periodic reports.

These joint actions will be financed by resources from each organization depending on the available financing capacity. Both parties will endeavour to obtain funds from extra-budgetary sources.

UNESCO and COL will convene annual or biennial joint consultations in order to review on-going activities and agree on identification and possible inclusion of new joint actions in line with this Work Plan Agreement.

Independent evaluations will be carried out, whenever deemed necessary, in line with UNESCO's and COL's plans for such activities

On behalf of UNESCO

Mr Koïchiro Matsuura
Director-General
UNESCO

On behalf of COL

Sir John Daniel
President and CEO
Commonwealth of Learning

Signed, July 2007