New working group to carry out education reform

 Seychelles Nation - 23.03.2009
A new team has been set up to carry out a programme of reforms in the local education system.

The working group is made up of professionals in the educational field as well as personnel from industry, commerce and civil society.

Its task is to work on various educational projects in priority areas to be carried out in 2010.
The team was set up following the report by Dr John Nolan, who had looked at the education and human resources development system and how it could be geared to help achieve the objectives of Strategy 2017.

After receiving Dr Nolan’s report, President James Michel set up the National Education and Training Strategy Committee to review the recommendations it made.

The committee advised on an action plan for reform to bring about a high-quality education and human resource development system that remains responsive to national development needs. This will also enable learners to achieve their potential.
Launching the working group on Friday at the Ministry of Education, Minister Bernard Shamlaye said its main priority is to provide for the diversity of educational needs and national development priorities.

He explained that bringing people from different sectors together to work on the educational programme will help to meet the diverse needs of students and the national economy.

The education reform programme has five priority areas, and for each there are several related themes.
For each priority, a task force has been set up and for each theme there is a working group. The role of the task force is to oversee and guide the work of the groups falling under it, which will carry out the more technical work.

The task forces will report to the Education Reform Oversight Committee (Edroc), which will then report to the President and cabinet of ministers. Minister Shamlaye is Edroc’s chairman, and its other members are Minister Patrick Pillay, Minister Macsuzy Mondon, Mohammed Afif, Dr Rolph Payet and Philippe Wong.

Other priority areas for the programme are to ensure quality education, to improve the quality of teaching, to improve the management of educational institutions and to create responsible and empowered students.

Lankan grads from London University excel via distance learning

 
From Daily Mirror Sri Lanka

By Sunimalee Dias

Contemporary graduates from University of London are well geared now to address issues concerning the global crisis and system changes in the sphere of economics, London University’s Dean of the External System (-its distance learning program) Prof. Jonathan Kydd said. He was in the country to attend the yearly graduation ceremony of the Royal Institute Colombo (RIC).

Sri Lankan companies are currently hiring students graduating with this educational qualification which imparts a world recognized qualification to our local students. Dr. Kydd made these and other valued observations during an interview with the Daily Financial Times. Dr. Kydd pointed out that there was necessity to have an understanding of new markets emerging today (such as complex financial derivates) that did not exist years ago. In this respect the External Program students are made well-equipped to think about such circumstances as they are trained in a stimulating manner to standards laid down and supervised locally at the Royal Institute by London University.

Issues pertaining to contemporary globalization, financial innovation and markets of new products are being analysed and studied by students for their exams in commerce related subjects, one of many fields that are offered by the External Program.

As a parallel, at the London School of Economics (LSE) these challenges are put forward to its students to engage them in actively participating in academic debates and exercises. The External Program offers economic degrees that are the same in substance as those undertaken by LSE degree students in London.

He impressed upon the quality of Sri Lankan students and their performance which was considered well above average internationally, with Sri Lanka standing broadly in the second tier of its market. In part, he commented that our “island mentality”, something shared with students in Singapore, Caribbean and even Hong Kong, make us very amenable to international and open viewpoints in doing academic programs.

The External Program is also a ‘learning program’ in reverse : an important facet of it is that the staff in London listen to student views across the world and make changes in the curriculum and options offered in accordance with the thinking and interests of the audience. Thus a close market reality is established, complemented by ground one on one meetings such as those conducted by Dr. Kydd in Colombo this month.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of London, Sir Graham Davies, himself also attended the local graduation for the second year running, a symbol of the attention paid by the External Program to its students in Sri Lanka.

University of London External System, in existence for 150 years, has more than 43,000 students worldwide and offers more than 100 study programmes. Its student population stretches to more than 180 countries across the globe. Moreover, it enables students to continue to earn a living whilst studying.  Students are able to study at a flexible pace and take their examinations in their home country, without having to come to London, saving sometimes upto 65% of the cost of doing the course of study in the UK..

The university’s global community of former students and alumni include many exceptional people such as six Nobel Prize winners: Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins – Winner of the Nobel Prize in 1929 for the discovery of what are now known as vitamins; Wole Soyinka – Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986; Professor Ronald Coase - Winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1991; Derek Walcott - Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992, and the foremost West Indian poet and dramatist writing today; Nelson Mandela – Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993; and Rolph Payet - Shared the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Nobel Peace Prize as an IPCC Lead Author.

Other exceptional alumni who have made their mark on the world stage include: Academics – Asa Briggs, Kwasi Wiredu, Sir Geoffrey Elton; Engineers – Sir Barnes Wallis; Politicians – Dr Luisa Diogo, Gisela Stuart MP; Writers – H.G.Wells, Chinua Achebe, Malcolm Bradbury.

The Royal Institute of Colombo conducts teaching for the BSc and LLB Degrees and Diplomas offered by the University of London and provides the Institute’s own foundation and ancillary courses for higher education in the English Medium. RIC opens up higher education opportunities at a reasonable cost to both Sri Lankan and overseas students in the fields of Accounting, Banking, Business, Economics, Finance, Information Systems, Law, Management, Mathematics and, Sociology.

Focus on harmony in managing our coastal zones

 Seychelles  Nation - 12.02.2009

People who work in managing Seychelles’ coastal areas are now learning about the so-called integrated approach, which harmonises demands such as tourism, housing and industry with protection of the natural environment.

A four-day workshop opened on Tuesday to explain the idea of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and how it can be applied.

Forty-one organisations involved in the subject were invited to take part in the training course at Care House, including the Marine Parks Authority, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Transport and several from the private sector.

The workshop’s aim is to help those taking part to make the right decisions when faced with the issue of integrated coastal management and to make the best use of the tools available to them.

The workshop is being run by Recomap – the Regional Programme for the Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zones of the Indian Ocean Countries – whose ICZM officer Jude Bijoux said most of the delegates are members of the group helping to draw up the environment management plans for Seychelles.

The current plan, the third being carried out here, will come to an end shortly and the new one is about to be drafted.

This is in line with Recomap’s policy of including integrated coastal management in national action plans for its member countries.

“We hope that after the workshop those taking part can make recommendations based on an integrated approach to management, and not only on one sector,” said Mr Bijoux.

Leader of the workshop is Dr Rolph Payet, who has a great deal of experience of working in the ICZM field.

During the four days the delegates will take an in-depth look at the cases of Beau Vallon, the east coast and La Digue, where a variety of factors come into play including tourism, housing and industrial development, and marine parks. 

“They are all different situations, but they all contain important issues we believe the participants should deal with,” said Mr Bijoux.

Although the time is short for delegates to get to grips with the subject, the course will help them deal with the issues of ICZM in their jobs, he added.

“We do not expect people to leave the workshop with an in-depth knowledge of how ICZM works, but they will be able to understand what the broad issues are and how to use the tools they have at their disposal to deal with them,” said Mr Bijoux.

While the workshop is taking place here, similar courses are being held in the five other countries of the region involved in the Recomap project.

Training to strengthen environment plan

Seychelles  Nation - 09.02.2009

Seychelles’ third environmental management plan will be strengthened by the results of a workshop and training session this week.

The four-day course will open tomorrow at Care House in Victoria, organised by the COI-Regional Programme for the Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zones of the Indian Ocean Countries (Recomap).

Three case studies from Seychelles will be used to introduce delegates to the process of decision making in the context of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM).

Similar workshops are being held in the other five Recomap member countries as part of the programme to draft and adopt ICZM national action plans.

Lead trainer for the course is Dr Rolph Payet, President James Michel’s special adviser on the environment, and many of those who will take part sit on the steering committee of the environmental management plans of Seychelles 2000-2010.      
Invitations to the workshop have been sent to 41 local organisations in the public, NGO and private sectors.

Its recommendations will be integrated into the environmental management plan, which will be drawn up later this year through collaboration between the government, Recomap and the Western Indian Ocean Land-based Sources of Pollution Programme of the United Nations Development Programme.