GPS - 3 NOVEMBER 2019 DUBLIN, IRELAND - ICDE
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GPS ICDE GLOBAL PRESIDENT'S SUMMIT 3 NOVEMBER 2019 DUBLIN, IRELAND
ICDE GLOBAL PRESIDENT’S SUMMIT
DUBLIN, IRELAND
NOVEMBER 3, 2019
SUMMARY DOCUMENT
Document Page
Meeting Agenda 2
Pre-meeting Preparation Discussion Document 3
Morning Session Notes 4
Afternoon Session Notes 8
Virtual Roundtable - Documents 10
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 1 of 54GLOBAL PRESIDENTS’ SUMMIT – MEETING CO-CHAIRS
Professor Belinda Tynan Dr. Neil Fassina
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Vice-President President
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Athabasca University
President, International Council of Open and Distance Executive Committee Member - International Council of
Education Open and Distance Education
MEETING AGENDA
Time Agenda Item Lead
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome Session - Dean of Education or DCU President
9:15 – 9:30 Move to Session Room
9:30 – 10:00 Individual Introductions & GPS Goals Co-Chairs
10:00 – 11:00 Session #1 - Table-top discussion regarding observations, All
challenges, and regional solutions to creating policy for
inclusion and equity
11:00 – 11:30 Bio-break and Networking
11:30 – 12:30 Session #2 - Facilitated room discussion related to Table- Co-chairs
top discussion #1
12:30 – 1:30 Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 Roundtable discussion on themes and challenges created All
through Virtual Roundtable
2:30 – 3:00 Facilitated discussion regarding roundtable Co-Chairs
3:00 – 3:30 Bio-break and Networking
3:30 – 4:00 Facilitated summary of the day’s takeaways and next steps Co-Chairs
4:00 – 5:30 Cocktail Reception All
6:00 – 8:00 Participant Dinner All
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 2 of 54PRE-MEETING PREPARATION QUESTIONS
Individual Introductions & GPS Goals
At the beginning of the session, attendees will be asked to introduce themselves and what they hope to
achieve during the day. To this end, attendees are asked to consider the following question:
1. What would you like to accomplish through the 2019 Global Presidents’ Summit?
Session #1 – Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Members of ICDE have been striving to create learning and research environments that are equitable,
foster diversity, and create inclusion for learners to success and reach their highest potential around the
world.
Session #1 & #2 of the Global Presidents’ Summit will focus on:
▪ global and regional best practices for equity, diversity, and inclusion in higher education; and
▪ best practices for influencing regional and global policy makers toward creating further equity,
diversity, and inclusion in higher education.
To this end, attendees are asked to consider the following questions in advance of our discussions:
1. What are the top three challenges faced by institutions when they try to create equity, diversity,
and inclusion in your geographical region?
2. What have you found to be the most effective practice when trying to influence regional policy
makers toward creating equity, diversity, and inclusion?
3. What would you consider to be the most influential solution or idea toward creating equity,
diversity, and inclusion in your geographic region?
Session #3 – Virtual Round Table
Attendees are asked to consider the following question in advance of the Global Presidents’ Summit:
1. What trends did you notice in reading the Virtual Round Table?
2. What opportunities should the Presidents undertake as an outcome of the Virtual Round Table?
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 3 of 54MORNING SESSION – NOTES
Key issue - Quality Assurance
There is a perception that online or distance education is of lesser quality, lesser value, or lesser
acceptability globally. The basis for this perception, however, varies regionally. So too does the
acceptability of online and distance education.
A part of the issue is that there are multiple quality assurance standards that tend to be
regionally defined and not necessarily publicly available. In some regions, they are defined by an
accreditation body of some nature.
In contrast to the perceptions of quality assurance, numerous jurisdictions are looking to online
and distance education as a solution to the challenge of creating access for learners.
Governments, employers, and the academy will have differing needs when it comes to quality
assurance frameworks.
Recognize that quality is a means to an end, not an end into and of itself.
Opportunity was identified for:
• Consider the creation of an online quality assurance framework.
• Identify the publicly available quality assurance frameworks that are friendly to open
and distance education with a focus on those that have been peer reviewed.
• Identify mechanisms by which to lobby government officials to endorse quality
assurance frameworks (i.e., focus on policy) as compared to developing or adapting the
frameworks themselves.
• The idea of online learning and the potential to “re-invent” cannot be seen as a criticism
or challenge to traditional place-based learning. Rather it needs to be a complementary
solution.
• An alternative is to create decentralized quality assurance frameworks.
• It is important how you frame the conversation when talking about quality assurance as
it may be adapted and used against the persuasion efforts. Consider knowing who your
counter lobby will be prior to engaging the conversation.
• Recognize that we are all facing similar challenges and it is not about online versus face
to face. Rather, it is about defining what quality is through input, process, and
outcomes. Start with the question of what we mean by quality, then apply it to different
environments. When challenged by face to face environments, place the burden back
on them to ask why online cannot meet the standards so that we understand the
arguments we are challenging.
Key Issue – Access
Place based institutions experience difficulties in meeting the needs of learners with special
circumstances in areas where online and distance education can support.
There are challenges, however, associated with access to technology and the language in which
the learning is developed/delivered.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 4 of 54Key Issue – Government Policy & Funding
Regional governments may not have policy focused on lifelong learning. Rather, the policy is
focused on “traditional” learners in the sense of young learners in a condensed learning
timeframe.
There is a need to create political support for online learning. Member institutions, however,
have found it difficult to persuade officials of the importance and parity of esteem for online
learning relative to face-to-face learning. Some challenge may rest with the observation that
policy makers tend to come from a face-to-face learning environment and therefore apply
“what they know” in terms of policy. Open, online, and distance learning institutions often find
themselves influencing without power and facing counter influence by place-based institutions.
In some regions, the pressure does not come from government officials, but rather from aid
agencies. In these cases, focus remains on making decisions as an institution and brining the
government around to support and agree with them.
Opportunity was identified for:
• The power of bringing together the key industry and higher-education stakeholders
into a single discussion to identify a single priority issue prior to influencing
government policy makers. In doing so, the singular issue and solution become
something that can be championed by government rather than created by
government by working around the announcement from the beginning. The
example was given to “Set up the parade in advance and ask government to lead it.”
• Strengthen the voice of stakeholders that are impacted by or can influence policy.
This may include strengthening the voice of parents, professional associations,
NGOs, civic organizations, trade unions to have the stakeholders advocate for policy
difference.
• Strengthen the voice of the learners. Younger generations deal with online learning
as ubiquitous.
• Strengthen advocacy toward the colleges/institutes/faculties of education based on
the idea that if teachers believe in online, open, and distance learning, so too will
the learner.
• When policy is driven by faculty groups, perhaps peer to peer advocacy could be
invoked.
Key Issue – Academic Colonialization
In some cases, open, online and distance education enters alternative regions and does not take
into consideration the regionality specific culture, language, and needs. There is a need for
regional and culturally sensitive opportunities that are self-determined and self-administered.
Opportunity was identified for:
• Although the stakeholders may differ by region, it does not mean that a global
solution cannot be create. More from the perspective of developed environments
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 5 of 54supporting developing envieoinments through pro-bono work that is culturally
sensitive and appropriate because it was created locally to create local agency.
Key Issue – Supply and demand
In some regions, supply cannot keep up with demand. In these regions, online and distance
education is being seen as a solution. In yet other regions, demand cannot keep pace with
supply. In these regions, online and distance education is seen as a potential new (and hyper-
competitive) market.
Key Issue – Technology Access
Technology access varies by region.
Key Issue – Diversity differs by region
Although the concept of diversity is shared across regions, there are cultural and regional
differences in how diversity is defined, what the starting point is, and the actions that are taken
to achieve it.
Key Issue – Is the term “Open” and “Online” correct
Question remains as to whether the terms open and online are correct going forward. While the
concepts of open, online, flexible, accessible, and technology enabled learning are common
terminology today, open and online institutions are seeing a weakening of their unique value
proposition as traditional face to face institutions enter this market.
A similar question is that with this changing of the unique value proposition of open and
distance educators, where do we fit into the higher education learning system locally, regionally,
and globally.
Opportunity was identified for:
• Redefining or reinventing higher education. This would enable the global movement
to have a second (and refreshed) opportunity to influence local, regional, and global
policy. An opportunity that could be developed having learned from the systems
own mistakes in advocating for first generation online and open learning.
• Innovation taking place in open, distance, and online education is redefining how
learning is delivered (e.g., micro-credentialing), how it is connected to industry (e.g.,
employability outcomes), and how it supports inclusion (e.g., protected groups,
refugees, indigenous populations, etc.). In some cases, it may be challenging the
traditional definition of a degree.
• By having a “second chance” open and online providers could influence the
regulation bodies and governments through an alternative stakeholder group.
Key Issue – Research
Research into the impact of online and distance education falls to the institutions as compared
to the government.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 6 of 54Key Issue – Student Mobility Key Issue – Affordability ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 7 of 54
AFTERNOON SESSION NOTES
Priority Issues
Pace of change in higher education. Because of the human nature of change, we tend to adapt
slower than we need to in developing the university of the future.
The future of work. The definitions of the future of work are important. The world of up-skilling
and re-skilling is different than new-skilling and we need to be able to address all three at scale
and at the “speed of need.”
Educational/Business Models. The need to create educational and underpinning business
models that are sustainable economically and for the human beings that are part of them (i.e.,
burnout). They need to exist as an individual organization and as part of a larger ecosystem.
Partnerships. What is being sought cannot be done alone. Further work needs to be done on
intra-organizational partnerships within the academy, with industry, with NGOs, and with
governments. One suggestion is that working with industry partners first in a revenue centric
model may enable open institutions to achieve the social mandate in which education is a social
good. These, however, are not mutually exclusive.
Retention of learners. The concept of target based programming and understanding how we do
our job better to retain learners.
Sustainable development goals. They help define how we do what we do with the goal of life
long learning and no one left behind.
Need to remain focused on learners.
Secondary Issues
Remember our roots. Recall why we came to be and the goals that we are trying to achieve.
The changing nature of formal credentials. As new approaches to credentials emerge, we need
to be able to keep pace.
Prior Recognition of Learning. Need to be able to create environments that recognize prior
learning efficiently and effectively.
The role of staff and supporting systems. Need to consider the full profile of institutions and the
full complement of staff when moving forward.
Common language definitions. Need to have a common set of definitions and how they relate
to each other. This includes credential infrastructure.
Where are learners coming from. The potential for overseas opportunities that are language
appropriate, culturally sensitive, and regionally sensitive.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 8 of 54Triple helix. Addressing the interaction between the academy, the learner, and the labour
market.
Changing the narrative. Turn the narrative from one of defensiveness to one of offence.
Shaping of competitive landscape. The competitive landscape is changing dramatically.
Connectivity Infrastructure. From ICT to electrical, water, data, etc. and the relevant cost
structures involved.
Quality recognition. Relative to “traditional” forms of quality.
How do we solve the issue of reaching learners in non-traditional markets?
The shift from publishing to online.
OER licencing.
Data and how we use it.
Government relations.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 9 of 54ICDE GLOBAL PRESIDENT’S SUMMIT
VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE
INSTITUTIONAL ATTENDEES
INSTITUTION PAGE
CATALYST IT LIMITED 11
CYBER UNIVERSITY OF KOREA 12
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF DISTANCE TEACHING UNIVERSITIES (EADTU) 15
FERNUNIVERSITÄT 17
FLEXIBLE EDUCATION NORWAY 19
HKU SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL AND CONTINUING EDUCATION (HKU SPACE) 20
KOREA NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY 21
LOS ANGELES PACIFIC UNIVERSITY 23
NORDIC OPEN ONLINE ACADEMY 24
OER FOUNDATION (LTD) 25
QUALITY MATTERS 26
SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) 27
TEXILA AMERICAN UNIVERSITY GROUP 29
The Open University 31
UC IRVINE 32
UNIVERSIDAD INTERNACIONAL DE LA RIOJA 33
UNIVERSITY OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA 36
UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA PARTICULAR DE LOJA (UTPL) 39
UNIVERSITAS TERBUKA (UT) 42
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES OPEN UNIVERSITY 44
UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES OPEN CAMPUS 46
ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY 49
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS 51
Carlos Alberto Pereira De Oliveira
Dr. Ebba Ossiannilsson
Justus Adedji Sokefun
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 10 of 54CATALYST IT LIMITED
Donald Christie
Managing Director, Catalyst IT Limited. I have been with Catalyst IT Limited for 22 years. I am a
co-founder and Managing Director of Catalyst IT.
Catalyst IT Limited
The Catalyst IT group is a provider of open source, Open Knowledge technologies as opposed to
a learning institution. Wellington New Zealand. http://catalyst.net.nz. 350 staff, 5 companies
across New Zealand, Australia, UK and Ireland.
Significant opportunities and challenges Catalyst IT Limited
The significant opportunities include the curation and due diligence applied by learning
institutions to knowledge and their learners. This is an opportunity that open source brings to
institutions. It is particularly important for traditional and indigenous knowledge frameworks
which have fallen victim to colonisation and abuse by academia for 100s of years.
The challenge is that so many are willing to pass on learner generated knowledge and data to
third parties for reasons of convenience.
Abrogating responsibility and losing control over their future.
Significant opportunities and challenges in the geographic region
Significant opportunity comes from the new government's focus on life-long learning. Topics
such as "just transition", "micro-credentials", workplace learning have moved from education
circles and made it into the parlance of central government policy speak.
There are significant challenges as the tertiary sector in particular faces reform, amalgamation
and an expectation that it will implement the policy changes being developed right now.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 11 of 54CYBER UNIVERSITY OF KOREA
President Dr. Jin Sung Kim
Dr. Jin Sung Kim is the President of The Cyber University of Korea since February of 2017. He
holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Kansas. After a long career in teaching as a
faculty member at his Alma Mater, Korea University, he has served as Principal of Hana
Academy Seoul, Dean of SolBridge International School of Business; Professor Emeritus and
Director of Korea University’s Medical Applied R&D Global Initiative Center.
Cyber University of Korea (CUK)
The Cyber University of Korea (CUK) is Korea’s first online university that was founded in 2001 in
accordance with the educational philosophy of providing creativity and service to society. In our
position as a four-year higher education institution, we are affiliated to Korea University, which
is rightly championed as one of the most prestigious universities in Korea. We are both under
the umbrella of Korea Choongang Education Foundation. By sharing such a substantial
infrastructure with Korea University, we have now set the standard of higher online education
and a high-tech content production system that other institutions will find it hard to follow. In
addition, CUK will now take the necessary steps to set the future trends for lifelong learning in
Korea through its innovative curriculum, systematic support services for students, and industry-
academia/international cooperation with esteemed institutions situated domestically and
internationally.
The Cyber University of Korea (formerly Korea Digital University), initially founded in 2001 with 7
departments, has since then, grown to become a university consisting of 2 faculties that contain
6 divisions, 21 departments and 3 degree programs as well as Graduate School of
Interdisciplinary Information Studies located in central Seoul with the enrolment of more than
9,000 students.
CUK has completely restructured both its education and management system. By adopting a
transparent and efficient administration, CUK has been able to strengthen its industry-academia
cooperation with major organizations in Korea and abroad. Based on these transparent and
modern educational/administrative services, CUK continues to take the initiative and will always
be the future of online education in the present day.
Significant opportunities and challenges facing CUK
With the development of Korea's information and communication industry, there is a high
desire to receive education in the cyberspace of young people. The demand in need of short-
term training is increasing, so classic school system alone is hard to meet. Various attempts
must be made to make working and learning process as one. Online education is expected to
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 12 of 54expand to generations who are familiar with IT based learning and activities.
• To cope up with technological changes
o It is necessary to prepare a plan to effectively utilize the development of IT and Edutech
technologies such as VR, AR, MR, Big Data, AI for online education.
o Need for research on teaching-learning strategy considering overall changes in
technology and learning environment.
• Countermeasure to free educational media such as YouTube, etc.
o With the expansion of open courses such as YouTube and MOOC, people who are
interested in learning can easily access free online educational contents.
o As a paid degree in cyber university, professionalism and systematic management of
learning must be differentiated.
• To deal with the expansion of online education of ordinary (offline) universities
o In the future, the restrictions on online classes will fade away from the degree program
and the boundaries between cyber and ordinary universities.
o Cyber universities need to be differentiated from ordinary universities by utilizing the
accumulated know-how of online education, and furthermore, suggest a standard
model of online education to general universities.
• Responding to changes in demand for Continuing Education
o Recently, changes are made due to 4th industrial revolution technology innovation,
increase of life expectancy and job retraining needs.
o It is necessary to develop and provide a curriculum that satisfies both basic research and
practical knowledge to prepare for educational environment changes.
Significant opportunities and challenges in the CUK geographic region
Advances in technology are overcoming geographical limits to some extent, and language
barriers appear to be greater. If the educational contents are in Korean language, it is difficult
for foreign students to take the course and even if the contents may be translated to English,
management of lectures may face difficulties.
• Increase of interest in online education by countries in Asia and Middle East in particular.
o Increased benchmarking to our university
o Collaborations are necessary.
• Respond to Aging Society
o Re-education for life after retirement is needed due to aging and increased life
expectancy.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 13 of 54o It is necessary to diversify educational contents that are currently tailored for the 20s to
40s to include the education of the elderly population.
• Educational Response to Unification
o Online education is an effective way to cope with the educational needs of North
Koreans distributed by region after unification.
o Providing higher education to North Korea without time and regional constraints could
be a big role for cyber universities.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 14 of 54EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF DISTANCE TEACHING UNIVERSITIES (EADTU)
George Ubachs
Managing Director EADTU
European Association of Distance teaching universities (EADTU)
EADTU now has a membership of fifteen institutions and fourteen national associations across
25 nations. Its membership covers over 200 universities and around 3 million students.
Significant opportunities and challenges facing your institution / geographic region.
Current socioeconomic developments of longer careers, a changing economy and digitalisation
indicate the relevance of lifelong learning. The current mismatch between skills or knowledge
and function or ambition needs to be resolved and education needs to become more flexible
with more blended or online components, to facilitate both conventional learners as well as
lifelong learners. The socioeconomic developments and the current mismatch create a challenge
for the European Union as well as for higher education institutes (HEIs), to which Short Learning
Programmes (SLPs) and MOOC based programmes could provide an answer.
There is however a major variation within credentials and between them. Employers need a
common standard to support lifelong learning. EADTU is building a Common Micro Credential
Framework in the framework of our European MOOC Consortium (EMC)
A Common Micro-Credential Framework (CMF by the European MOOC Consortium)
Rationale behind the action
• The creation of a Common Micro-Credential Framework for MOOCs was seen by the
EMC partnership as a next step in opening opportunities for all and opening the
European market for online education and training of the European workforce. It is a
result of cooperation within the partnership and in the Knowledge Alliance-project
opening MOOCs for the European Labour Market.
• Ongoing practice in MOOCs and online short programs is rapidly growing in Europe and
world-wide. There is a major variation in credentials awarded for them: micromasters,
nanodegrees, mastertracks, certificates, diploma’s etc. Clarity on qualifications is of
utmost importance for learners, universities and employers. The current situation leads
to confusion and is hindering the breakthrough of MOOC programmes, online
continuous education/CPD in general and career development while careers become
longer.
• The Common Qualification Framework (CMF) will be instrumental for creating
harmonized and readable qualifications. This is also relevant for the further
development of online short learning programmes in European flexible distance
education.
• The CMF corresponds with the European Qualification Framework for Lifelong Leaning
and completes the conditions of Europass. It is intended for use by recognised
universities on the platforms.
• The CMF aims to:
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 15 of 54o lay foundations for a new qualification to address the needs of employers and
learners looking for small units of study that meet their career goals and/or to
develop higher education-level skills.
o enable Courses produced to the CMF to be recognised towards Formal
Qualifications, as they will be designed in accordance with recognised national
qualification frameworks.
o enable courses produced to the CMF to be stackable between different higher
education institutions in Europe and beyond to support personalisation of
learning.
Stakeholders involved
• The European MOOC Consortium: Futurelearn, France Université Numérique, Miriadax,
EduOpen, OpenupEd. All EMC partners are aligned and engaged for applying the CMF.
• The Open University as an owner, now a co-owner of Futurelearn (next to SEEK,
Australia)
• Members delivering MOOCs through these organisations
• Other universities delivering MOOCs through these platforms
• The world of work through the MOOC for the labour market project: public employment
services, sectoral organisations, companies
• Learners as the first beneficiaries of harmonized and validated micro-credentials
Expected outcomes for the sector
• The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is a common European reference
framework whose purpose is to make qualifications more readable and understandable
across different countries and systems.
• The CMF encourages the development of courses that will better meet the needs of
modern learners anywhere in the world. Learners are looking to acquire knowledge,
skills and competences at a higher education level in smaller units, delivered in ways
that fit around their lifestyles and tailored to meet their interests or needs. At the same
time, learners and employers seek to have such learning recognised towards formal
qualifications in a seamless way. The CMF establishes a framework for these goals to be
achieved across Europe and the rest of the world.
Expected outcomes
• A common micro-credential framework is important to promote continuing education
and CPD programmes organised by flexible distance education universities as they are
specialized in this area of provision and are able to respond to massive educational
needs in society. Micro-credentials are also a better basis for funding flexible distance
teaching universities.
• The readability and harmonization of short learning programmes is also discussed,
based on an analysis of curriculum concepts and institutional policies and strategies in
the partnership.
• The CMF can be discussed as a step forward to a European standard for online short
learning programs and as a common brand for flexible distance teaching universities,
recognized by learners, universities and employers.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 16 of 54FERNUNIVERSITÄT
Uwe Elsholz
▪ Vice-President for Continuing Education, Knowledge Transfer, and International Affairs
▪ Chair of Lifelong Learning in the Institute for Education Sciences and Media Research since
March 2013
▪ Vice-President for Continuing Education, Knowledge Transfer, and International Affairs since
January 2019
▪ research interests: company-based learning, didactics in higher education, relationship between
vocational education system and higher education system
▪ goals as Vice-president for International Affairs
o internationalizing of primarily German language study offerings by integrating
international learning units into study/degree programs
o establishing a strategic partnership network focused on international distance education
providers;
o building up international double degree and other joint study offerings with partners
o internationalizing the institution as a whole, in particular service and support structures;
FernUniversität in Hagen
▪ largest German university with more than 76,000 students, founded in 1975
▪ Only state-funded fully accredited distance university education provider in the German-
speaking language community, no tuition fees in Germany
▪ Study offerings in German: 10 Bachelor and 15 Master programs + portfolio of certificates and
continuing education Master programs in 5 faculties
▪ Flexible offerings, part-time; target group: lifelong learners, 85% in employment, 54% already
have a higher education degree
▪ Blended learning model: Virtual learning environment with clearly structured study material,
combined with a limited number of in-class lectures and student support (both online and face-
to-face)
▪ student support services in regional study centers across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and
Hungary.
Significant opportunities and challenges facing FernUniversität in Hagen
▪ Professor – student ratio 1:753, state funding has been increased but still a challenge
▪ Digitalizing university infrastructure for such large student cohorts
▪ Building a personal learning environment, developing adaptive learning
▪ lifelong learning becomes more and more important, Fernuni as nationwide provider has a lot of
opportunities in continuing education
Significant opportunities and challenges in Germany:
▪ Digitalization as a national challenge equally a chance for higher education institutions to
modernize
▪ Continuing education at HEI is underdeveloped, due to financial restrictions
▪ Demographic change has begun, but educational system has not adjusted yet
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 17 of 54▪ ICT skills are underdeveloped in curricula of universities ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 18 of 54
FLEXIBLE EDUCATION NORWAY
Torunn Gjelsvik
Executive Director of Flexible Education Norway since August 2018
Flexible Education Norway
Flexible Education Norway is a Norwegian NGO and national membership organization with
approximately 50 institutional members providing online and blended learning programs on
various levels, including customized courses for professionals. Flexible Education Norway is
located in Oslo, Norway, and has a staff of 4 persons. Our mission is to contribute towards
obtaining optimal conditions for online and flexible education and to improve the recognition of
its potential. We develop quality standards and guidelines for flexible and online learning and
work with educational policies at a national level. We also participate in Nordic and European
networks and projects. We are members of ICDE, EADL and EDEN.
Significant opportunities and challenges facing Flexible Education Norway
Opportunities: Favorable political conditions for lifelong learning and flexible learning
opportunities through an ongoing reform for lifelong learning/competence reform. All
educational providers are expected to contribute towards more flexible learning provision
adapted to the changing needs of society
Challenges: Currently, we have experienced an unexpected reduction in the state funding (we
normally receive substantial annual funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Education, which is
a threat to the organization and our level of activities in the future.
Significant opportunities and challenges in the geographic region
Opportunities: same as above
Challenges: to prove value and relevance of methodologies and experience from the distance
education field to the need of transforming the educational system into a lifelong learning
pathway accessible to all. To ensure quality and relevance of flexible education provision while
implementing significant changes, to remove structural/juridical bottlenecks in the legal and
educational system and to raise funding for lifelong learning opportunities without interfering
with the “free education principle” in Norway/Scandinavia
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 19 of 54HKU SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL AND CONTINUING EDUCATION (HKU SPACE)
Professor William KM Lee
Director of HKU SPACE. I have served as Director of The University of Hong Kong’s School of
Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE) since 2015.
HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE)
HKU SPACE is an extension arm of the University with a mission to provide lifelong learning
opportunities to different spectrum of the community. In 2018 the School celebrated its 60th
anniversary. The School is backed with a deep history with track records of providing
professional education for working adults to pursue their career development, with over 2.5
million alumni. In support of the Government to expand post-secondary education to school
leavers, HKU SPACE established the first community colleges in Hong Kong in 2000. The School
has also established its reputation in China with ten years of dedication to bring execution
education to entrepreneurs and senior managers through our learning centres in Shanghai,
Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
In the 2018/19 academic year, the School offered 945 part-time courses with some 85000
enrolments, 55 full-time Associate Degree and Higher Diploma programmes with 7900
enrolments, 28 full-time UG programmes in partnership with institutions in the UK and Australia
with some 600 enrolments. In Mainland China, we offered 186 executive courses with close to
5800 enrolments. This marks a total of over 1200 courses, close to 99000 student enrolments in
the last academic year.
Demographics decline aside, the year 2019 in particular is an exceptional year in Hong Kong. The
unrest started this summer casts much uncertainty to people and the economy at large. As a
lifelong learning provider, the School is expected to face challenges in dropping enrolments at
all levels. However, in step with the policy directions of the HK Government, we are well
positioned to expand vocational and professional education and training (VPET) and continue to
be the leader in the sector. Moreover, the School has strategically positioned its programme
development in ABCD areas which align with the future manpower needs of our economy - A:
aviation; B: build and construction; C: care; D: data science.
From a broader perspective, HK benefits from the development of the Mainland, notably the
Greater Bay Area development and Belt and Road Initiative. As the Mainland calls for higher
education reform and expansion of vocational education and transformation of more applied
universities, the School has also been approached by potential partners in the Mainland to
jointly develop VPET education in China. However, the Sino trade war has been a threat to the
School in particular affecting executive training in the Mainland.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 20 of 54KOREA NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY
Su Noh Ryu
President, Office of International Affairs. Has been with KNOU for 20 years.
Ock Tae Kim
Dean, Office of International Affairs / Dean, Office of Strategic Planning. Has been with KNOU for
5 years.
Chang Yeul Yang
Team Head, Office of International Affairs. Has been with KNOU for 15 years.
Korea National Open University (KNOU)
In 1972, KNOU was launched as the first and its only kind national open university in Korea. It
has more than 700,000 alumni and about 110,000 registered students as of October 2019.
KNOU has such various delivering methods as TV lecture, classroom lecture, textbooks,
multimedia lecture and web-based lectures. KNOU also provides various types of assessment to
students for example mid-term assignment, classroom lecture exam, final exam and online
text.
Purpose of KNOU Foundation
Since its inception in 1972, Korea National Open University (KNOU) has been contributing to
the lifelong education of Korea with its fundamental philosophy, ‘realizing a lifelong learning
society by providing the opportunity of higher education through a distance learning.’ KNOU is
aiming to provide opportunities for higher education, improve education levels of Korean
citizens, develop and expand adult education and cultivate qualified human resources in
various fields.
Historical Meaning of KNOU Foundation
Although distance learning and education has started in the West for over 100 years, Korea has
experienced distance education less than 50 years. In 1972, KNOU was first launched as the
Department of Telecommunications affiliated with Seoul National University. The foundation of
KNOU was deemed to be an innovative occasion and an “academic revolution” that
fundamentally transformed the existing university education’s philosophy, system and
methods. The emergence of KNOU tremendously changed the conventional concept of college
students. Adult learners involved in both work and study began playing a leading role in
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 21 of 54university, the door to higher education opened up for adults beyond college-age. KNOU
established a foundation for lifelong education by extending the rights for learning over a
lifetime and providing learning opportunities to people of all social classes.
Significant Opportunities and Challenges
Opportunities
- Inexpensive tuition
- Cumulative know-how of the spearhead distance education
- Commonness and the degrees of acknowledgement
- Construction of nationwide learning networks
- Increases of demands on lifelong education
Challenges
- Indiscriminate structures of university
- Inadequacy of the reflections in its learners’ demands
- Rigid organizations of its school affairs
- Inflexible reaction system to the circumstantial changes
- Decreases in school aged population
- Increases in competitive education
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 22 of 54LOS ANGELES PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
John Reynolds
President - Los Angeles Pacific University (Los Angeles, USA). 7 years as CEO - 2 years as
President
Los Angeles Pacific University (LAPU.edu)
▪ Founded in 2011
▪ Enrolment: 3280 (2746 UG + 534 Gr)
▪ 78% Female
▪ 11 Majors with 27 concentrations
▪ 2516 degrees awarded
Institutional Opportunities and Threats
Opportunities
▪ Large national working adult population with partial degrees - need to be completed
▪ Located in high urban population area - market availability
▪ Certification/nano or micro credentials
Threats
▪ Increasing competition
▪ Accreditation limitations/regulations slowing down innovation
Geographic Opportunities/Threats
Threats
▪ Federal changes in attitude to private institutions
▪ Reputation of distance learning credentials with employers
▪ Affordability
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 23 of 54NORDIC OPEN ONLINE ACADEMY
Morten Flate Paulsen
CEO of www.nooa.no. I founded the Nordic open online Academy as a private, Norwegian online
school in 2012 and have worked as CEO ever since.
Nordic Open Online Academy (NooA)
NooA is online school in the cloud with more than 100 online courses provided in Moodle. The
majority of students understand Norwegian, but we have users from about 50 countries
because we have some courses in English and language courses for people who want to learn
Norwegian.
Significant opportunities and challenges facing NooA
The opportunities for private and non-traditional online schools to get national, public funding
and project grants are reduced during the last decade. It could be argued that the public funding
to a larger degree is allocated to public initiatives and institutions.
Significant opportunities and challenges in NooA’s geographic region
Online education becomes more mainstream and the large, traditional and public institution
provide more flexible and online education services. This seems to be a challenge for the small,
private and innovative providers because public funding, policies and quality schemes seem to
be gradually more grounded on traditional education. Several small innovative institutions have
been merged or acquired by traditional institution that want to become more flexible. This may
help traditional institution to become somewhat more flexible, but often reduce the flexibility of
the small innovative institutions.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 24 of 54OER FOUNDATION (LTD)
Wayne Mackintosh
Wayne Mackintosh is the founding Managing Director of the Open Education Resource (OER)
Foundation (Ltd), an independent not-for-profit organisation that provides leadership,
networking and support for educational institutions to achieve their strategic objectives through
open education approaches. He is also New Zealand’s UNESCO Chair in Open Educational
Resources (OER) and also an ICDE Chair in OER. He has served as Managing Director of the OER
Foundation since 2019.
The OER Foundation
The OER Foundation co-ordinates the implementation of the OER universitas (OERu), an
innovative, international collaboration among socially motivated universities from five
continents that design, develop and deliver open online micro-courses based solely on OER,
which learners may study for free with pathways to achieve formal academic credit.
OERu courses are designed for independent study. Learners study for free and partner
institutions offer an assessment-only, fee-for-service option for learners to gain transfer credit
towards designated qualifications from OERu partner institutions.
Significant opportunities and challenges facing the OER Foundation
The adoption of the OER has the potential to add particular momentum to the realisation of
SDG4 (quality education), which is at the heart of achieving many of the other sustainable
development goals. There is now sufficient evidence to support the view that by exploiting the
inherent economies of scale of open access, open licensing, open content, open pedagogy and
open source technologies, the implementation of OER-based initiatives could lay the firm
foundation for a much-needed new and sustainable business model for national education
systems at all levels. Such a commitment is not only critical to the advancement of developing
countries, but is equally pertinent to overcoming the fiscal constraints now confronting
developed countries on a global scale.
The OERu network provides opportunities to collaborate on a system of transnational micro-
credentialing on a global scale using open online courses.
Significant opportunities and challenges in local geographic region
The OERu operates on a global scale across five continents. We aim to respond as best we can to
local geographic challenges. In this regard, we have launched the OERu Outreach Partnership
Programme where selected institutions in the developing world can join the OERu network for
free.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 25 of 54QUALITY MATTERS
Deborah Adair
Managing Director of Quality Matters 2007 – 2015. Executive Director from 2016. Frequently
keynote and advisor on quality and quality assurance for open/online education.
Quality Matters
▪ Developed form a U.S. government grant, now a not-for-profit organization.
▪ QM reputation and breadth of QM community provides a robust platform for shared
standards and processes for other kinds of quality initiatives
Opportunities and Challenges
▪ Turnkey quality assurance process built from research and validated in practice provides
opportunities for data-informed decisions for institutional improvement supporting
institutional accreditation.
▪ Connection with faculty and instructional designers provides on-the-ground perspective and
opportunities for scaling initiatives
▪ Credentialing of faculty, courses, and programs provides inter-institutional mobility for
individuals and benchmarking for institutions to ensure continuous improvement of student
learning
▪ Online course design best practices are well-known in some regions, lesser known in others
▪ In the US, consolidation (closures, mergers) across higher education and reduced public
funding for all education
▪ Reduced public confidence in the efficacy of a college degree, particularly for employment
after graduation
▪ Increasing numbers of non-accredited education providers, including employers and
increasing alternative digital credentials
▪ In the US, record levels of student debt and threat of legislative changes to accreditation
model
▪ Abundance of EdTech tools and educational support organizations (e.g. OPMs) with
significant and growing corporate/for-profit participation
▪ Data security and privacy concerns escalating
Rapidly changing environment for online education; In US, competitive environment for enrollment
(lower student demand, rising national institutions)
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 26 of 54SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS)
Professor CHEONG Hee Kiat
Professor Cheong Hee Kiat is Founding President of the Singapore University of Social Sciences
(SUSS), one of six government-funded universities in Singapore. He joined academia in Nanyang
Technological University in 1986, and held various academic and administrative appointments
including Deputy President and Dean of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is an advocate
of lifelong learning and giving opportunities, as well as appropriate learning support, to people
of all ages and socio-economic and educational background to learn to their full potential.
Professor Cheong graduated from the University of Adelaide and the Imperial College, London.
He is a registered Professional Engineer (Civil).
Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS)
SUSS was founded in 2005, initially as a private university and providing degree qualification
upgrading to working adults and adult learners who study on a part-time basis. Subsequently, it
also opened its doors to full-time undergraduates. It now has about 15,000 students, among
whom are more than 12,000 on part-time studies and more than 2,000 on full-time studies.
SUSS has a comprehensive range of disciplines, in 5 schools. These include human
development, social sciences, the humanities, law, business, science & technology, engineering,
ICT and education. The qualification level ranges from bachelor to PhD. It has an inclusive
admission policy (though not as wide-door as open universities), many pathways for progression
and a rigorous graduation framework and set of standards.
In 2017, SUSS was re-structured as a government-funded university, joining 5 others in
Singapore’s university system, with the primary foci of promoting CET and lifelong learning and
the social sciences.
Besides full-degree programmes, the University offers many courses and modules for continuing
education and training (CET), and has a comprehensive qualification framework that allows for
certifications to be obtained at various levels and a stack-ability of learning certifications
towards higher qualifications.
The programmes are applied, outcome-based, modular and formulated together with industry.
SUSS has a small complement of full-time faculty (relative to traditional universities) and
employs a significantly larger group of ‘associates’ who teach part-time with SUSS and hail from
industry and other institutions of higher learning. While face-to-face classes are organised,
there is a strong component of online and blended learning. Didactic teaching is not common;
classes and discussions are recorded; materials are provided online; educational interactions are
also mainly online, including assignment submissions, formative assessments, various
interactions between student and school/administration, etc. SUSS uses analytics to monitor
student progression and learning, and provides learning support to at-risk students through its
Teaching & learning Centre.
More information may be obtained from our webpage at suss.edu.sg
Significant opportunities and challenges facing SUSS
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 27 of 54• Growing opportunities in, and need for, CET and lifelong learning.
• Increasing focus on people, societal needs amidst disruptions due to ageing, technology, large
changes in the nature of jobs, job insecurity, societal and political strife and uncertainties, which
establishes greater raison d’etre for SUSS’ social sciences orientation.
• Technology increasingly available that enhances ability to better deliver, support and analyse
learning.
• Resistance faced in adoption of online learning in some student quarters and among faculty.
• Singapore’s good branding in education which can enhance interest in, and take-up of,
programmes SUSS can, in time, offer overseas.
• Better learning support needed to be provided as more students are admitted for CET and as
SUSS broadens its inclusive admission.
• Branding of SUSS as a national university (being relatively new) and ability to compete
effectively with the more-established universities.
Significant opportunities and challenges in ASEAN
• Rapidly developing region which will require more good quality education opportunities for its
people.
• Large population and market, with young populations in a few countries.
• Relative peaceful region.
• Stable governments with political will to increase pan-region cooperation and progress.
• Growing middle class, but also increasing gaps between the poor and rich.
• Deeper knowhow needed in deployment of advanced technology and skilled labour to support
economic growth.
• Region is resource-rich and has much potential for economic growth, but may face the effects of
geo-political big-power rivalries.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 28 of 54TEXILA AMERICAN UNIVERSITY GROUP
Sivakumar Ponnusamy
Sivakumar Ponnusamy is Vice President eLearning at Texila American University Group. He is an educational
technocrat and an accomplished entrepreneur. Over the years he has gained extensive experience
in several fields such as marketing, sales, finance and operations. He has been an integral part of the
TAU Group since its inception in 2010 and with his diligent and excellent work ethic has contributed
significantly to its rise as a globally recognized institution over the past decade.
Texila American University Consortium
Texila American University Consortium is headquartered in India for international universities offering
On Campus and Distance & Online Learning programs to students worldwide. Texila American
University Campuses are located in Guyana (South America), Zambia (Southern Africa) and United Arab
Emirates (UAE) with offices in USA, Mauritius, South Africa & Nigeria. TAU offers several Health Science
programs with a high level of professionalism, exactness and problem- solving skills incampuses.
Texila’ s Distance & Online Learning Programs are designed to offer advanced training in a range of
disciplines including healthcare, business, management & IT. These programs form part of a broader
qualification pathway and provide professional development opportunities for professionals
seeking a better future in their respective professions
BRICS is a uniquely designed teaching learning methodology designed for the distance and online learning
program where students will learn the courses/subjects in blocks. Block based learning is dedicated
learning of one subject at a time, which focuses on more immersed learning. Each block is for 2 months
or 8 weeks. During the Block based learning students undergo various teaching learning activities in
sequence. They are expected to complete 2 modules in a week and as well as take weekly assessments
(MCQ’s), participate in forum discussion with peers, participate in faculty student’s interactive
session and do a contextual project work during the seventh week, all these make learning
comprehensive. At the end of every block, student will do a self-reflective assessment to understand if he
has achieved the learning outcome of the subject
Significant opportunities and challenges for Texila
The current scenario in Africa sees a huge rising demand for online education as it provides students
with a highly affordable, flexible and a wide range of study related options. As an educational
institution, Texila places high importance on the student’s family ties and dynamics. This has been a
major driving force in TAU’s tireless pursuit in bringing quality education into people’s lives without
having to inconvenience the students by taking them away from their families and homes. Texila
further recognizes the reality that there are several working-class individuals who are keen on
advancing their careers through education but are held back due to challenges like time, cost and
distance constraints.
Apart from providing an effective learning solution for students, the concept of online and
distance learning is also highly beneficial for the environment. Recent studies have found that online
courses equatetoanaverageof90%lessenergyand85%lessCO2emissionsstudentthan traditional school
or college going courses. This translates into less energy spent by the students and a lot less negative
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 29 of 54impact on the environment as well.
Statistics from a recent study have demonstrated that it’s not just students, but employers are also
embracing this rising trend of online education in record numbers. This is great news as just a decade ago,
the concept of online or distance learning was perceived as an inferior alternative to traditional methods
of education. It is preciselyforthisreasonthatTAUfeelstheneedto actively contribute to the growth
of online education in the continent of Africa.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 30 of 54The Open University
Dr Liz Marr
Acting PVC (Students). I have worked at the OUUK for 11 years. My role is student facing and I
have responsibility for student success, student experience and student satisfaction. My
academic background is in IT and sociology and my work has focused on social justice and access
to higher education. I am also President of EADTU.
The Open University (OU)
The OU is the largest University in the UK, operating across all four nations. It is also one of the
largest in Europe, with approximately 170,000 students (almost 70k Full time equivalent.) It is
based in Milton Keynes in England with nation offices in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast and
centres in Nottingham, Manchester and Dublin.
The OU is a distance learning organisation and the majority of our students are part-time,
combining their studies with work and family responsibilities. Much of our provision is online
and students can also attend optional online or face-to-face tutorials, day and residential
schools. The University is open access which means that most students do not require prior
qualifications to enter (Some subject areas do have requirements, such as Social Work) but we
do provide an Access route for those who may lack the skills or confidence to go directly to
undergraduate study.
Our institutional challenges are identified and addressed through our strategic plan. These
include:
a) Student success – we moved from a modular to a qualification delivery model in 2012 as a
result of funding changes in England. Our regulators measure success in terms of
qualification completion which is sometimes at odds with the wants and needs of many of
our students. Funding for students in England, at least, is contingent on registration for a
qualification rather than a module.
b) Core systems replacement – the University is just 50 years old and many of our IT systems
are reaching end of life and are no longer fit for purpose. We are currently in the process of
adopting new systems for back office (finance, HR) and student lifecycle management. This
is a huge task and requires process and policy review to ensure implementation enhances
the student experience.
c) The policy context for Higher Education in the UK is in flux and a sole reliance on fee income
for sustainability is risky.
Opportunities follow in part from our challenges
a) A shift in emphasis away from modular delivery has increased the number and visibility of
our full qualifications and we are beginning to see a fall in the average age of our students
and an increase in those wishing to study full time and therefore complete more quickly.
ICDE – Global Presidents’ Summit Dublin, Ireland Page 31 of 54You can also read
