tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24091750797796826392024-03-16T22:07:15.459+04:0021st Century Teaching and Learning with TechnologyMaintained by Mohammad Santally. Views expressed here are my own and are not binding on my institution.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-35634045689394244822020-07-26T17:54:00.001+04:002020-07-26T17:54:43.519+04:00The polemic surrounding University Ranking of UniRank (4icu.org) : The case of UoM being 85th in the African Top 100<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is an interview I gave to the News on Sunday paper that appeared on 26th July 2020.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. There is a controversy about the ranking of UoM. What do you have to say about it? </span></b><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span>First of all, the ranking of UniRank is not based on academic components. It is a ranking of Universities based on their popularity, which is measured by the web traffic that passes through these websites. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, the media has wrongly reported that it is a ranking of RUFORUM. RUFORUM is an association of African Universities with respect to Agriculture. It has released a statement highlighting that in the ranking released by UniRank, 24 of its member Universities are listed in the Top 100. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Coming to the University of Mauritius, our web traffic varies throughout the year according to the different events that take place at the University. For instance, during our admission period, there is an increase in the traffic, while during the term time majority usage of the website is internal. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">As an example, the University of Nairobi, ranked 7 on this UniRank, has about 84000 students enrolled, as compared to a student population of roughly 10000 for UoM. Another example is the University of Zimbabwe ranked 72 in the UniRank. University of Zimbabwe, has 20000 students. However, the University has listed its research budget to be 41M USD and it has about 800 academic staff. University of Namibia ranked 39 has about 30000 students, 3 times our current student population. On Webometrics ranking, which accounts for research outputs as well, University of Zimbabwe is ranked 40, University of Namibia is ranked 104 while UoM is 52. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, what are we exactly talking about? What is the benchmark that we want to use? How reliable are those ranking in terms of a real assessment of quality of teaching, research and innovation of the institutions concerned? </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">We do not have an issue with the media reporting on this ranking, but our concern is that there is erroneous information that is being relayed by a few persons especially those within academia, with the unique motive to cause harm to the University. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Does this ranking has an impact on the image of the university? </span></b><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">No, it does not as long as it is being properly conveyed. However, the way this ranking has been portrayed in the media definitely impacts on the perception of the public on the University. We are not claiming that everything is perfect and that we are satisfied with the way things are at UoM. This is not the case, as</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> we always want to continuously improve on all aspects of our operation from teaching and learning to research, consultancy and services to our students. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. What the population should understand about this ranking? </span></b><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The key element that we want to highlight is that this ranking does not in any way imply a decrease in quality of teaching and learning or in terms of research output. On the other hand, there are also other types of ranking, such as the one used by Webometrics, which also include inter-alia research output, citations and the research profiles of academics on Google Scholar. On that ranking we are 52 in Africa and 33 in Sub Saharan Africa. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The population has to understand that despite all what is being said, the University of Mauritius is still No1 in Mauritius according to both UniRank and Webometrics ranking alike. On the other hand, the population also has to understand, that due to our size in terms of the population in Mauritius, the student population, and academic staff numbers at the University, it is clear that it is not a level playing field when it comes to international ranking using metrics linked to web traffic for instance. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Furthermore, our degrees are highly valued abroad and are internationally recognized. People should not forget the University of Pretoria and University of Cape Town, are the top Universities in Africa and they have linkages with the University of Mauritius with respect to our medical degree programmes. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-42481767412831045132020-07-20T22:55:00.000+04:002020-07-20T22:55:36.369+04:00University of Mauritius launches iLearn, a MOOC platform based on the concept of Open Learning and Micro-credentials<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Learn. Inspire. Lead – This is the motto of behind this new online capacity building platform of the University of Mauritius. This innovative technology, called XENOPS (now rebranded as XENED) is an advanced customization of Open EdX which is a well-known platform for the delivery of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). </span><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The University is championing the concept of micro-credentials based on blockchain technology where participants have the possibility to enroll on courses for free or for a small fee and will have the possibility to earn micro-credits that can be accumulated and transferred into recognized University credits. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The XENED platform provides functionalities to better monitor and track learner progress and provides a seamless and flexible online learning experience. The University has already identified a number of its online modules and open educational resources that would be offered through this platform. For the launching of the platform, an online course on Internet of Things will be offered for free to Mauritian and international participants as from September 2020. The course was developed as an open educational resource (OER) through the support of the Commonwealth of Learning. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Pro Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources), Dr Santally highlighted: “The University of Mauritius has played a pioneering role in the development of education technology as an academic field and led by example in terms of capacity building of education practitioners and innovation in teaching and learning through technology. This initiative is another example of our broader vision to lead the digital transformation of education and opening up access to high quality training to build the workforce of the future in the country” </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mr Balaji Baradhazhvar, CEO of Crystal Delta Ltd further added: “We are proud to be associated with the University of Mauritius. It is a strengthening of our policy to promote Universities in small island states. We are already working with the University of South Pacific, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). We are particularly motivated with this partnership as it also entails research and innovation activities in the areas of blockchain and micro-credentials with the team at the UoM” </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='477' height='284' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzsB1nqHXbziqy4MzrfAZqpmxau6varzEu_VW7j6GzHLZ8JwFzpyNgEeNRVEH-5VMcFr83WKe2eO0Gja900TA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The courses that will be dispensed through this platform will relate to ICTs, Digital Literacies, Youth Work Development, Leadership Development, Human Rights and a number of other areas in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. The University through its consultancy unit will also be engaging with the different stakeholders especially the private sector to mount customized online training for the upskilling of their staff. At the moment, most of the training is held through face-to-face training on campus. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources) mentioned that in the long term, the vision is to broaden this initiative into a massive capacity building platform that promotes continuous professional development at a National scale to accelerate the development of Mauritius into a knowledge society. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-8836033349575987262020-04-10T16:07:00.001+04:002020-04-10T16:21:29.205+04:00It is not about the technology.....anymore<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We have witnessed in the world over the past two months, and the past few weeks in Mauritius, a sudden wake up call regarding e-learning by many people coming from different spheres of the education sector, including the technology solution providers, when confinement was imposed rather abruptly and when millions of kids and individuals throughout the world found themselves to be out of school. What we witnessed after that was mainly a series of communications, articles, and rush towards technology. We heard about Zoom and suddenly controversies emerged about security. We heard about Moodle, Google Meet or Microsoft Office 365 tools to allow people to keep working and classes ongoing. Everybody was focusing on one aspect – the technology. As usual we witness a fierce battle from the solution providers but also the users and the corporate clients, where each one of them wants to show that the solution they embraced is the best. <br /><br />And amidst all this brouhaha, the educator, parents and the kids are lost somewhere in between. We lost sights of the major stakeholder. The kids. We have been advocating for years about student-centered education. We have been talking about 21st Century Teaching and Learning, in which technology is not necessarily central but is considered as an important enabler to make it happen. Yet, in this time of crisis as it came unannounced, and for which we were unprepared for, in a number of ways, the basic instinct of many were to get into a race to show whose technology is the best, and who is the leader because they have some piece of technology in there, but which in reality, was under- or not utilized at all. No one focused on the practice, and the optimal use of the technology. Practically no one had a framework including a continuity plan for the educational services to continue with positive impact on teaching and achievement of learning outcomes in particular. <br /><br />So, in this rush, we forgot about </span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Digital Inclusion </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Organizational e-Learning Maturity Levels </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Quality Assurance and Instructional Design Processes for e-Learning and mass media delivery </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">User Readiness and learning curve for technology adoption for instructional uses </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Technical and end-user support </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Technology in education can be broadly categorized in two parts, namely high-end technology and low-end technology. Often, there is a tendency to think that high-end technology will have higher impact on learning and vice-versa for low end technology. This is not true as we can have a high-end technology with low impact on learning while we can have low-end technology with high impact on learning. When a course is shifted from a face-to-face environment to the e-Learning mode or to be delivered on mass media such as TV, there are a number of instructional design implications. If there is a need to replace a classic uni-directional lecture online, then a simple video conferencing tool with a PowerPoint loaded on it will suffice. The impact or the success of the lecture will be determined mainly by the knowledge/expertise of the presenter combined with his or her presentation and communication skills. On the other hand, if a traditional classroom for primary school children that follows a classic lesson plan adapted for the classroom environment and the whiteboard is going to be shifted on television or online, then this is a completely different matter. It cannot be simply transferred just by using the technology. The instructional design and a methodology are important. There might even be a need to rethink and adapt the lesson to fit in the new delivery medium. Quality assurance is key, and there is no room for mistake, professional standards have to be top in such situations. <br /><br />The technology is not missing, the content is not missing, and the teacher is not missing. But the conceptual and practical translation and transformation of a classic “teaching period” is very important to ensure the successful transfer of knowledge from one point to the other. I must point out here that the knowledge cycle is not complete, as we are catering only for the transfer, but not for the application of the knowledge through learning activities. On television for instance, the knowledge application phase is difficult to ensure, and the knowledge transfer phase is single-paced, which may not be adapted for all learners, as it will mostly adhere to the one-size-fits-all approach. A convergence of technologies is therefore needed to ensure both the knowledge transfer, and application phases take place. All of this need a framework to be in place and to ensure teachers, educators and academics alike are at ease with, and have the necessary competencies to make it work. Capacity-building of teachers have to be on the operationalization of such a framework, and not rather ad-hoc training on scattered pieces of technology. Technical support to teachers is very important element to ensure the uptake is constant, as many will end up abandoning technology due to minor hiccups. This leads us to first of all gauge the readiness of teachers, but also engage in an honest assessment of the actual digital divide, as this is the most complex part of the problem. I do not have a quick fix ready-made solution or idea on how to solve this, except being tempted to say, let’s give a free TV and laptop or tablet to each household. Digital inclusion should be on the agenda of Governments as a top priority especially for the underserved population. <br /><br />To end this piece of reflection, we have to also accept the fact that we are not in an ideal world, and despite all the things we may write about, things will not happen in an ideal way. I had highlighted it in the past, and for a long time advocated that empowerment of the teachers was an essential element in the integration of technology in teaching and learning. Decentralization of the digitization of the curriculum is important to be considered, as today we saw that educators who were volunteers came forward to conceive technology-driven lessons albeit in a disorganized way. Their goodwill makes them perfect to become the 'change-agents' of the future. But if we want to accelerate the digitization of curriculum, we need to find a mechanism where this is decentralized in a distributed instructional design process model, using standards, guidelines and rigorous quality assurance mechanisms to ascertain that learning via multiple media is meaningful</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> and pedagogically relevant</span>. In this way, the content digitization process will be carried out in much less time to cover in full the curriculum and will lead to real learning transformation. <br /><br />Let us refocus on the process, the instructional approaches, and the pedagogy – not on the technology. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <br /> </span><style>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For a few years now, given the significant advances in web technologies and internet connectivity, I’ve been advocating against the use of the term “distance learning” anymore. At least not, in countries where connectivity is not an issue. At least not, within countries so small like ours (an island in fact) where travelling from one point to another is not a big problem. What I’ve rather been saying was that with such technology at hand (and which is still going to get better), that we had a unique opportunity: Digital Transformation of the Teaching and Learning process. To the layperson, simply put it – teaching and learning differently. Just as they would use WhatsApp or Viber to ‘telephone’ differently. As usual, very few would care, until we experience some crisis situation like the Covid-19. In many cases, tech-savvy and creative teachers are already using simple communication tools and social media to keep in touch with their students, sharing resources and interacting with each other. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, what are the options available to the educator (mainly targeting upper secondary) or the academic of the University who has to teach from home? The answer is quite a few. Unfortunately for some, it is still not clear in their minds. Teaching and learning differently in the new era do not necessarily need an eLearning platform like Moodle or be familiar with big terms like instructional design. Yes, such things do help but are not the sine-qua-non conditions to succeed. Others would be using Google classroom, and some despite having a Gmail or a Microsoft account would be terrified of the idea of having to use the different tools in the Software Suite which they never even bothered to have a look. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As they say, there is no need to panic. Just ask yourself the right questions, and if you have the answers, then you are ready-to-go. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Question 1 : Do I have a reliable internet connection? </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The first thing to ensure is that you have a good internet connection. An ADSL connection of 10MBPS will be enough in most cases. 3G unlimited packages also work fine.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Question 2 : Do you have a computer (PC or Laptop) and Smartphone? </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ideally, a functional PC or Laptop and a Smartphone with simple modern communication tools (WhatsApp/Viber/Messenger) is fine. To start with you can have WhatsApp group with your students where you can start by exchanging messages, and documents (PDFs/Video/Voice Memos) with them. Remember you can run WhatsApp and Viber from your computer as well. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Question 3 : Do you have a Facebook account? </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If not, well it is the time that you may think of creating one. You can create a private Facebook group with your students in it. It is an alternative to the WhatsApp group. You can also have both at the same time. With a Facebook group, you can share a videos, images, links, and also engage in productive discussions in the form of comments and replies. You can even have a live video where you can talk in real-time to the students. You can also do an offline video and share it with the students. You can organize simple polls with the students to keep them engaged. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Question 4: Some more tools and ways? </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are quite a few of them. I will enumerate some classic and well-known ones here. This list is however non-exhaustive. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"> </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Start a YouTube Channel </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can create an account on YouTube where you can upload your own video resources, and then share the links with the students. In this way you have your own video channel. To do your videos, you can use your laptop or computer webcam or your phone to do a nice selfie video (with photogenic effects, of course). </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>Start a Blog </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A blog allows you to setup a kind of personal website in an intuitive way. People often use wordpress.com or blogspot.com to start a blog. If you have a Gmail account, it might be easier to start with Blogspot.com. Your students can be asked to follow the blog, and you can post articles and lessons there for them to read, and to interact by posting comments (in the form of Q&As) on the articles. In a blog article you can easily embed a YouTube video and other resources such as images or sound. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"> </span></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Install Zoom for Online Meetings </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Zoom is a user-friendly software with a nice intuitive interface that allows you to setup virtual classrooms where you can conduct an online meeting (video conferencing / sharing your screen and your PPT) where many participants can attend. The lecture can be recorded, downloaded and shared with others. The free version of ZOOM allows for 40 mins sessions with many participants. So, you can plan accordingly, and have different 40 mins sessions. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>PPT to Videos </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">New versions of Microsoft PowerPoint have an in-built feature where your PPT can be easily exported to a Video format. If you have done a set of PPT slides, all you need to do is to carry out a voice recording on each slide, and then export your file to video format. This video can then be shared on Facebook group, WhatsApp group, or YouTube and then embedded in your blog if you wish to add some instructions for doing homework via a blog post. <br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Homework and Correction </b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While your students can easily share their own homework files (digital) or a picture of their handwritten essays with you via the groups (WhatsApp/Messenger) or via email, managing these and providing feedback can be a bit cumbersome for you. Still though with some patience you will be able to get through it. You can fix this though, if your students have a Gmail account, where they can share the file with you on the shared Google drive. You can easily open them, put your comments in them, and then the students can access these comments as you complete them. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="color: black;">Concluding note </span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are a regular social media user (Facebook/WhatsApp) and have an email account, you are ready to go. It’s not complicated to keep in touch with the students and guide them through the learning process. If you are motivated to go the extra mile, then a panoply of possibilities exists, where you can be independent of other people and systems. Still, with or without Covid-19, in the 21st Century that should be the standard practices to resort to, of course, notwithstanding the fact that, in a more regular situation, we can then use classroom time for more productive educational activities. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-40718981269683036372020-03-03T10:06:00.000+04:002020-03-03T10:06:09.843+04:00Key achievements over the past 3 years (Part III - Final)
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Innovative Marketing Strategies </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The strategic engagement with the press through regular requests for coverage of events, press releases, the use of social media such as Facebook to promote the University’s activities and interviews of different officers of the University contributed to restoring a positive perception of the general public towards the institution. The University’s activities were also promoted through the different recruitment agents and video interviews of high-profile Alumni of the UoM. The University has been having recourse to professional digital marketing companies such as Keystone Academic Solutions to market our high-end dual degree courses with University of Arizona and Paris-Seine. Emphasis has been laid both on the local and international markets with respect to brand promotion and upholding of the University’s image and reputation as the premier National University of Mauritius. The impact of our actions has been clearly demonstrated by the gradual rise in the number of international student applications and increasing number of requests from different European institutions to participate in Erasmus+ programmes with them. </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Setting up of the UoM Incubator </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img src="file:////Users/moham/Library/Group%20Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/TemporaryItems/msohtmlclip/clip_image002.png" />The University Council at its 439th (Ordinary) Meeting held on 31 August 2017 approved the concept note for the setting up of the UoM Incubator. A number of activities were carried out in the context of the incubator namely the Innovative ICT business idea competition in collaboration with the National Computer Board and the Ministry of technology, communications and innovation (TCI). Another project, in collaboration with the NPCC and the e-inclusion foundation involving 3 groups of students working on IOT solutions for SMEs was carried out.The SBM is currently funding one of the projects to help them move towards proof of concept. Furthermore, a module called “build your business” was developed and implemented as a pilot in the “Web and Multimedia Development” programme of studies at the Centre for Innovative & Lifelong Learning. The VFX Postproduction lab is also being setup in the context of the Digital Technologies incubator. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Digital Language Lab </span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The office facilitated the establishment of a Digital Language Lab at the University of Mauritius (hosted at the FSSH) and the procurement of the language learning software. After a successful pilot at the level of the FSSH and the CILL, the language learning project has now been extended University-wide to students and staff. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><b><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The VFX and Postproduction Initiative </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The office has been working on this initiative since 2017, in close collaboration with the Vice-Chancellor, the Chief of Facilities, the Dean of FOICDT and the Economic Development Board. A working group had been constituted to look at all the aspects and implications of mounting courses and programmes in postproduction and VFX. At this point in time, the procurement award for the equipment and machines for the VFX lab has already been approved at Council, and the space to setup the lab has already been identified. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br />Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA) </b></span><br /><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 2017, the University of Mauritius and Huawei Technologies (Mauritius) Co Limited signed an agreement for the implementation of a Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA) at the University for providing Huawei Certified Training Programs to students and in-service professionals. Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA) is a not for profit partnership program that authorizes universities and colleges to deliver Huawei Certification courses. Based on its industry leading ICT technologies and global ICT practices, Huawei has developed a full range of ICT career certifications in order to support local ICT education, share knowledge, create more opportunities, and build a better ICT talent eco-system. Within the scope of this collaboration, Huawei has sponsored two lab kits, one for Switching and Routing course and one for the Cloud course which amount to about USD 40,600. The equipment has been received and installed in 2018. Two instructors have been trained in South Africa for delivering the Huawei Networking Curriculum and four instructors have been trained for delivering the Huawei Cloud curriculum. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><style> </style></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Capacity Building of Staff at all levels </b><br /><br />To ensure that our staff effectively embrace and share the vision of the University to ensure a competent workforce that is focused and engaged, the University has engaged into a training needs analysis, and the development of a capacity-building plan for the staff. There has been a series of diverse training targeting staff at all levels (e.g. Tea Making for Office Attendants or Language Proficiency Training for Administrative Staff) and the university-wide training on transformational leadership is currently ongoing. The Leadership development programme is a spin-off project from the experience of the Pro VC after his participation in the University Leadership Training in Malawi by Ruforum in 2017. The development of a CPD framework for the staff is now under process to improve staff competency, capabilities and engagement.</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Performance Management System (PMS) </b><br /><br />Council approved the PMS to be piloted at the Human Resources section on a voluntary basis and other units of the University willing to be part of the pilot. The pilot has started at the level of the HR section. A committee under the Chairmanship of the Pro VC (Planning & Resources) regrouping the academic and non-academic staff union of the University. Once the workload for academic staff is finalized, the finalized PMS will be submitted to Council for University-wide implementation on a pilot basis. A workshop on competencies building and evaluation has been conducted with Senior Management by Mr Patil Hunma in October 2019. <br /><br /><b>Revision of the Leave without Pay Policy </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the request of Council, the divergence between the Unions and the Management on the issue of leave without pay has been looked into by the Pro VC (P&R). The different proposals have been submitted to Council and the issue has been resolved to the satisfaction of the Unions. <br /><b><br />The setting up of a staff welfare fund university-wide </b><br /><br />The University provides for a small sum of money to each staff for participation in end-of-year team-building activities. On the other hand, a handful of staff benefits from their full participation to be catered for, from specific funds earmarked for their departments. It has been brought to the attention of Senior Management that this is causing some demotivation among other staff of the University. Further to consultations, the Staff Committee has now approved that, henceforth, the University will set aside earmarked funds from revenue generating activities in a consolidated fund, which will be used to promote team-building activities across the University. <br /> </span></div>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-30302599814430578012020-02-17T22:31:00.001+04:002020-02-17T22:31:18.526+04:00Key achievements over the past three years (Part II)<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Streamlining approval procedures of MoUs and Agreements</b></span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To
address the red-taping issues related to the processing of MoUs and
Agreements, while ensuring that key procedures are adhered to within the
principles of good governance, the office of Planning &
Resources has reviewed the procedure in consultation with the key
stakeholders to streamline the processes and administrative burden to
improve efficiencies at all levels. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>The Information Technology Strategy Committee (ITSC) </b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The
ITSC (previously Information Technology Advisory Committee) is chaired
by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (P&R). The main terms of reference of
the ITSC is to serve as a platform for brainstorming about strategic IT
to support the educational strategy of the University and to act as an
an advisory body to the University with respect to the use of ICTs to
improve business processes. The work of the committee for the past three
years has been to focus on the improvement of admissions and student
application processes, including online payment via credit card and
upload of supporting documents for international students. The ITSC also
looks at different IT policies and their institutional and legal
implications prior to recommending to the Council for approval (e.g.
Cyber-Insurance policy and IT Business Continuity Plan). The UoM dashboard is also operational to provide real-time information to decision-makers during the marketing phases of our courses preceding each intake. </span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The GTES Policy Framework </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Graduate Training Employment Scheme is a project of Government through the HRDC to promote re-skilling of unemployed graduates in key sectors and to guarantee them employment in the private sector. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This
was a multi-impact project which would improve the employability of
young unemployed graduates, promote industry-academia partnerships and
generating revenue. In 2017, the University of Mauritius was lagging
behind in its involvement in GTES for a lack of policy framework in
place. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The
approval of the GTES policy framework by the Council kickstarted the
University’s involvement in the GTES project. The total approved project value under GTES by the HRDC is approximately MUR 18M. A collaboration with another IT company name is already underway. Ceridian will fund the setting up of a digital innovation lab at the University. A project in AI training worth 7M has been approved in February 2020. This brings our fund-raising total on GTES projects alone, to 25M MUR over the past three years, while it was practically NIL from 2015-2017. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Joint offer of MA Educational Leadership with University of Seychelles </b><br /> This is a pioneering and innovative educational project, whereby a full-fledged fee-paying Masters programme has been mounted solely from open educational resources and offered fully online in collaboration with University of Seychelles. In the first intake, approximately 40 educators (including 25 Seychelles educators) embarked on this programme. The experience from this innovative online project will be used as steppingstone to widen the eLearning initiative of the University. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Achieving Financial Resilience </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The different strategies put forward by the Senior Management team with respect to budget preparation, promotion of revenue generating activities, efficient marketing to increase postgraduate and international student numbers, and improvement of efficiency at different levels has resulted in an accounting surplus in 2019 in the official accounts, as approved by Council of the University after recent struggles of the University to cope with recurring budgetary deficits. <style><!--
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Technology-Enabled Learning Policy</span></b> <br />
<br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The eLearning initiative started in 2001 at the University of Mauritius through the Virtual Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies as the pioneer of ICTs in Education in Mauritius. However, the University has struggled over the years, with respect to the direction for education technologies, and to promote the uptake of innovative technology-enabled pedagogies by academics of the institution. In 2017, the technology-enabled learning policy developed by the P&R office in consultation with CILL and Faculties was finally approved at Council. This policy is an important enabler for the success of the Learner-Centered Credit System (LCCS) initiative, led by the office of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academia). It is also an important aspect of the University’s plan to diversify revenue streams through online learning provisions over the African region.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Innovative Marketing Strategies </span></b><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The strategic engagement with the press through regular requests for coverage of events, press releases, the use of social media such as Facebook to promote the University’s activities and interviews of different officers of the University contributed to restore a positive perception of the general public towards the institution. The University’s activities were also promoted through the different recruitment agents and video interviews of high-profile Alumni of the UoM. The University has been having recourse to professional digital marketing companies such as Keystone Academic Solutions to market our high-end dual degree courses with University of Arizona and Paris-Seine. Emphasis has been laid both on the local and international markets with respect to brand promotion and upholding of the University’s image and reputation as the premier National University of Mauritius. The impact of our actions has been clearly demonstrated by the gradual rise in the number of international student applications and increasing number of requests from different European institutions to participate in Erasmus+ programmes with them. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-90309241185087181312020-02-17T15:39:00.000+04:002020-02-18T09:45:23.052+04:00Key achievements over the past three years (Part 1)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Three years are nearly over. Roughly two months remain before my present term as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources) comes to an end. From that point, there are two possible routes - a renewal for another final term of three years, or I get back to my position as Associate Professor at the Centre for Innovative and Lifelong Learning (CILL). Either way, I am quite happy to take up the challenge again or to work to become a Professor, the ultimate target of any academic career. Some of the key achievements of my office during the past three years are highlighted below:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Pre-2017. </b>The University was undergoing a difficult phase and the image of the University had been compromised because of bad press. The Strategic Plan 2015-2020 was approved, but key policies to foster the development of the strategic directions were not in place. The Finances of the University were always in the red, and this has resulted in unwanted negative publicity for the institution. There was practically no marketing strategy, except the classic press adverts, and sporadic uses of social media. Fund-raising was at its lowest point and the office of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources) was often wrongly perceived on this aspect. Staff morale overall was low and the yearly training vote for non-academic staff was not used to the maximum, while the academic community was exasperated at the lack of research funding available and the suspension of the conference attendance scheme for approximately two years. Red taping at the institutional level was so high that the University was inefficient in multiple dimensions, for instance, from the approval of Memorandum of Understanding to the signature of simple GTES agreements. Postgraduate student numbers were on the steep decline while fees charged kept increasing, without a proper horizon scanning of the environment surrounding us and the strategies that were being adopted by other TEIs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><b><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Flexible and Competitive Fee Structure</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">During the academic years preceding the 2017/2018 intake, the fee structure of the UoM postgraduate programs was on the high side and kept increasing every year, to compensate for the University’s policy to maintain undergraduate general fees constantly. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This policy of increasing postgraduate fees was a</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span> detriment to the overall student intake at postgraduate levels, while the policy was to actually focus on more postgraduate programmes. As from the academic year 2017/2018, the University authorities successfully managed to review the General Fees upwards. This provided an opportunity for the office of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources) to revise the postgraduate fee structures for local and international students, and the undergraduate fee structures for international students. </span><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriRWafDNjGjC2hn92Sg11-pP1BQH-Y1APodfhfCZ7OYcoHskQ5ppYxDln4ev6NLo65qmgo2ksLuOy_zRTBayjIMRn_rjBVPlSn9heCaFF5zLGxWhBfwsKzXKM9ryl73JywZeDZJob2OQ/s1600/InternationalStudents.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhriRWafDNjGjC2hn92Sg11-pP1BQH-Y1APodfhfCZ7OYcoHskQ5ppYxDln4ev6NLo65qmgo2ksLuOy_zRTBayjIMRn_rjBVPlSn9heCaFF5zLGxWhBfwsKzXKM9ryl73JywZeDZJob2OQ/s1600/InternationalStudents.png" /></a></b></div>
<b><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The International Affairs Office and the International Strategy </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On its meeting of 31st August 2017, Council approved the Strategy and the setting up of an International Affairs Office (IAO) at the University of Mauritius to drive and implement actions and initiatives to enhance the global visibility of the UoM. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The International Affairs Office is actually operating under the P&R office, with only one Administrative Manager and one Administrative Officer. Since the setting of the International Affairs office, a number of key indicators have been on the rise namely the number of Erasmus+ Exchange Agreements and staff exchanges, the number of international students, and the hosting of visitors and delegations. In the context of the Internationalization of the University, and as outcomes of the different participation of the Pro VC P&R office in international student recruitment fairs, the University has approved the policy principle to work with recruitment agents to increase the international student population of the University. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmrYWDanTRidSJgraJw98I0c1MmVW4s_NFetY3gue98VHqfBhAyGNOAQrNagynT4j3HnAcwf34qIPOnw2y0qJVXFGdOBasycY0plyNisV2awhTHkuT_tJVmYxLt81mrzs6vecuUDc3qs/s1600/international2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmrYWDanTRidSJgraJw98I0c1MmVW4s_NFetY3gue98VHqfBhAyGNOAQrNagynT4j3HnAcwf34qIPOnw2y0qJVXFGdOBasycY0plyNisV2awhTHkuT_tJVmYxLt81mrzs6vecuUDc3qs/s1600/international2.png" /></a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">University Net Revenue from Consultancies (UDF)</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Consultancy activities constitute an important aspect of the University’s </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">activities that generate additional revenue for the University and for the academic and support staff. The opportunity to engage in Consultancies results in benefits that are multifold for the staff community. The first benefit is that it can improve job satisfaction and leads to improved engagement and commitment to one’s job, increased revenue for the staff, better </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">staff retention and contributes to the reputation of the University on the professional market. The focus on improved services to the academic and non-academic staff community has led to an increase in the overall consultancy </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">contracts value over the past years. As a consequence, there has been a steady increase in the revenue for the UoM that contributes towards the University Development Fund (UDF). </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EzfabZ3qwmIfjITfnJGitxBJ0abuSl6J0G4Di6fPVv5Rf3Eo2UFHGkm1vVMBtwXKoOU3zG9rAlUZPGXvO254F9DsDouVyWN2BFJICk49czmcvoEyVPJB1oYHXbH3i8rAbDWNBiqV6c8/s1600/consultancy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EzfabZ3qwmIfjITfnJGitxBJ0abuSl6J0G4Di6fPVv5Rf3Eo2UFHGkm1vVMBtwXKoOU3zG9rAlUZPGXvO254F9DsDouVyWN2BFJICk49czmcvoEyVPJB1oYHXbH3i8rAbDWNBiqV6c8/s400/consultancy.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_qsUDhENO_kVmDwJPEqpmNm8VxQmERPvnHd47y6tGzPFy5WCs-Ja_1-HqikjgMNjoEmAxKUoJImjFQF0CrAGg6KfiY3GhVIR1HIRsY_IvP0x_Zm0JiDK7roqruf7Iiy1fyOZns4t9cI/s1600/revenue.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs_qsUDhENO_kVmDwJPEqpmNm8VxQmERPvnHd47y6tGzPFy5WCs-Ja_1-HqikjgMNjoEmAxKUoJImjFQF0CrAGg6KfiY3GhVIR1HIRsY_IvP0x_Zm0JiDK7roqruf7Iiy1fyOZns4t9cI/s400/revenue.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Setting-up of the Office of Marketing and Externally Funded Activities </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This was a recommendation of the visitor’s report. The setting up of the office has been approved by the Council. Since 2017, the University has been engaging itself in innovative and more impactful ways of marketing its various activities and services. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The re-establishment of the “Consultancy Watch” helped the unit in identifying key opportunities for project bidding. The Consultancy activities of the University has experienced a consequent increase in total project value since 2017. Consultancy enhances the reputation of the University and brings funds to the University Development Fund, which has been used for key development projects of the University. </span><style><!--
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-39125540682219833802019-12-20T19:57:00.004+04:002019-12-20T20:07:47.911+04:00Keynote Speech @ 2019 MTMI International Conference on Emerging Issues in Business, Technology and Applied Sciences<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The title of the presentation was "Digital Workforce Needs, and the Role of Universities in the New World - The Case of the University of Mauritius". The 21st Century workplace requires individuals with different skills and competencies to operate in rapidly evolving technology-enabled environments. As per the World Economic Forum these 7 technologies are actually changing our world – and this is what is being termed as the 4th Industrial Revolution. These are Big Data and AI, Digital Health, Large Scale Digitization, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Digital Learning and Wearable Internet. Traditional curricula dispensed by Universities are seen to be too static and rigid to respond to these needs. Industry often criticizes academia for not doing enough to address the skills gaps, while Universities often counter-argue that their role is not to produce a workforce for the short term but to prepare individuals for life. Both stands of industry and academia are not wrong per se, but they can only be seen as half-truths as long as they each maintain their stand without a critical introspection.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, it is important to recall that Universities in the developing countries were mainly developmental, to produce a workforce capable to contribute to the socio-economic development. It is a fact that the requirements for current jobs have changed and the new workforce has to operate on the frontiers of disciplines. Furthermore, state of the art technologies such as Internet of things and artificial intelligence changing the way professionals work in different sectors. It is therefore imperative that Universities review their curriculum models to address these emerging needs and prepare individuals for the jobs of the future. Universities are also facing other types of challenges with respect to their long-term sustainability with the emergence of other credible alternatives (for e.g. MOOCs and open badges as credentials) to higher education. Many employers are no longer requiring formal higher education qualifications as pre-requisites to be hired for jobs. Technologies such as augmented/virtual reality, video-conferencing and digital learning platforms are changing the way students learn. The content is no longer at the centre of the teaching and learning process. High quality content is available as open educational resources in a variety of formats. Therefore, Universities cannot keep on teaching using the same traditional methods. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Universities, especially in developing countries, are therefore bound to be disrupted in the digital world driven by knowledge societies and economies. The key question therefore is how can Universities in the developing world adapt to these evolutions and address the key challenges they are facing to still be relevant in the digital age, sustainable and prepare the workforce for the future of work? The rethinking of the role of our Universities is therefore important and it is clear that the status-quo can no longer be envisaged. In so doing, Universities can bridge the skills gap and prepare the digital workforce of the future in collaboration with industries and embrace innovation while at the same time maintain a balance within the so-called “ecosystem of disruption” so as not to deviate from their core values, independence and academic freedom. In this presentation, we look at the digital transformation of Universities within the triple helix model to promote public-private-academia collaboration and the new approaches to teaching, learning and certification using the University of Mauritius as example. </span></span></span></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/moham14/digital-workforce-needs-and-the-role-of-universities-in-the-new-world-the-case-of-the-university-of-mauritius" target="_blank" title="Digital Workforce Needs, and the Role of Universities in the New World - The Case of the University of Mauritius">Digital Workforce Needs, and the Role of Universities in the New World - The Case of the University of Mauritius</a> </b></div>
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from <b><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/moham14" target="_blank">M I Santally</a></b>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-72422308022192221702019-12-05T12:13:00.002+04:002020-02-17T22:39:18.981+04:00Workshop "Blueprint for the setting up of a Mauritian NREN" <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The workshop was held on the 4th December at St Regis Hotel, a beautiful resort situated at Le Morne. Well that was not the most important part! The Vice Prime Minister and our Parent Minister, Hon Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun was the main guest for the opening of this workshop jointly organized by the University of Mauritius and the University of Technology, Mauritius. I represented the University in the opening ceremony and made the speech as below. <br /><br />It is my pleasure to be addressing you today on behalf of the University of Mauritius for this workshop with the theme, I quote “Building a Roadmap for the Establishment of a Mauritian National Research and Education Network (commonly known as NRENs). <br /><br />NRENs are specialised internet service providers dedicated to supporting the needs of the research and education communities within a country. The primary focus of NRENs is to provide universities and research institutes with high-quality network connectivity and related services by connecting campuses and institutions to each other, and to the rest of the internet. While doing some reading online, I came across a statement, I quote “NRENs have pioneered networks, technologies and services for research and education since the internet's inception”. This is a very commendable achievement indeed. However, I wish to highlight that Technology has a history of ‘perpetual evolution’ and we have to be conscious and aware that the focus cannot solely be on the technology. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />Researchers in education have constantly brought forward the technology paradox, characterizing the fact that technology ever since the radio and the TV were invented we have not really witnessed the so-called education revolution in the way it was meant to be. We have over the years witnessed the same phenomenon with the internet, smartphones, and other technological developments such as Virtual Reality, that demonstrated huge potential, but have never become or have yet to become integral and ubiquitous components of mainstream education. <br /><br />I still recall some 18 years ago, somewhere around the year 2001-2002, when we started the eLearning initiative at the University of Mauritius, one of the key projects we undertook was the development of an interactive CD for the ambitious Mass Computer Literacy Project of the Government. <br /><br />Colleagues present here and who know about this project, will no doubt tell you that the real success behind the CPP was neither the technology nor the nice interface or content we developed, but it was about the underlying educational philosophy and the ability of the stakeholders (government, academia, private sector, and the people) to work coherently together to achieve something extraordinary. <br /><br />This is simply to highlight that while we deploy the technologies, any blueprint has to pay equal or even more emphasis on the human dimension and the tangible impacts of having such networks over the targeted beneficiaries. The networks should not be of machines, and IP addresses only but of people with common interests to promote education through communities of practice in the relevant areas. If policies are conceived in such a way so as to put technology at the service of humanity, then the results will be much more impactful and transformative. <br /><br />Indeed, this is why collaboration is one of the main recipes for successful NRENs. I am very pleased and thankful to see that close collaboration has been established between the public TEIs, AUF, Ministries of Education, ICT and UbuntuNet Alliance. We are also grateful to the CEO of Zamren and SomaliREN to be present here to share their experiences with us. I am reassured that the NREN by its nature fosters collaboration, it will provide us the opportunities to work together and engage in fruitful exchanges at local, regional and international level. <br /><br />At the University, we ensure that our Institutional goals through our main strategic thrusts, drive our Information Technology strategy and not vice-versa. To this effect, we have setup an institutional IT Strategy Committee that engages into brainstorming and identification of key policies, strategies and actions that will help the University to maintain a competitive edge and improve efficiency through appropriate process re-engineering. <br /><br />In terms of our Information Technology capabilities, the University of Mauritius has implemented comprehensive technology solutions to power institutional growth and to improve efficiency within the institution. We have a fully online Student Life Cycle System, an integrated back office system and I am informed that we have also deployed IPv6 on our Internet facing servers. This year we have upgraded our Fibre Optics backbone network to improve our bandwidth. We have also upgraded our Wi-Fi network to achieve practically full WIFI Coverage across the campus. <br /><br />We are therefore committed to share and contribute to the successful setup of the Mauritian NREN. Our eLibrary which is currently available for access by other public TEIs will be part of the initiative. Industry engagement, which is one of our strategic thrusts, has to be a significant player within the NREN. Over the past three years, our key engagement priorities have been in research, quality education, digital innovation and entrepreneurial activities. We have setup a Digital Technologies incubator and we have established a living lab for innovative pedagogies which is accredited by the European Network of Open Living Labs. <br /><br />I can personally see here how a convergence of the activities falling under these two entities, can contribute to impactful projects. For instance, the application of of AI-powered techniques such as learning analytics to develop smart learning environments which can lead to improvement of student learning outcomes and achievement in our Universities. I would like here to quote Tom Freston – Co Founder of MTV – “Innovation is taking two things that exist and putting them together in a new way” <br /><br />On a concluding note, I wish to thank the Honourable Ministers for their unflinching support and presence, the NREN local organising team, all participants, and the speakers of today’s event. With these words, I wish all of you a successful workshop. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-84131309556483218952019-10-22T11:01:00.001+04:002019-10-22T11:01:46.341+04:001st Africa University Badminton Championships 2019 <div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgayY9yb1-b-x1jnFIfLXepcPYsZc_aVSrjH72sYxmMyp7EhWdsFspy4vvEhqU2GQwWAJE2xZJWlwwSnZz5xuTB-7dXiiVxgfQbRasb-FLQQFDpBwh-KA7g0zYwDDdPGjGeZcHI5pAp9pk/s1600/_DSC5680.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1060" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgayY9yb1-b-x1jnFIfLXepcPYsZc_aVSrjH72sYxmMyp7EhWdsFspy4vvEhqU2GQwWAJE2xZJWlwwSnZz5xuTB-7dXiiVxgfQbRasb-FLQQFDpBwh-KA7g0zYwDDdPGjGeZcHI5pAp9pk/s200/_DSC5680.JPG" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was requested by the Vice-Chancellor to represent him as the Chief Guest for the official launching of the 1st Africa University Badminton Championships 2019. It was nice to see athletes (students) from different African countries and Reunion island. Hereunder the key essence of my speech. Such kind of events align perfectly with our key strategic thrusts related to internationalization of the University, Enhancing our students’ experiences on campus through sports and the promotion of intercultural exchanges. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We believe that the role of Universities is to provide a holistic education to our youth to make them more complete and capable as individuals to take up the challenges of life. This is why we have reviewed our curriculum model last year to promote a learner-centred approach while injecting significant funds to continuously improve our infrastructure for the benefit of our students. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YiPGfwLI4_VXfJwPWZCzgrvadi6GDzHM9V6mvMXnOs9cVB73LnYPenmt7l78m3mtShanVUuVDk7YgRXcXixkh-cvmqORL5hElut90CBJz0q_WuNocKtkhJ4qsZ_nLcVjyUFV3W2i7hY/s1600/_DSC5677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YiPGfwLI4_VXfJwPWZCzgrvadi6GDzHM9V6mvMXnOs9cVB73LnYPenmt7l78m3mtShanVUuVDk7YgRXcXixkh-cvmqORL5hElut90CBJz0q_WuNocKtkhJ4qsZ_nLcVjyUFV3W2i7hY/s200/_DSC5677.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sports is a very important aspect to promote healthy living and to improve the quality of life of our population. A healthy population can contribute better to the development of a country and is an important indicator for prosperity, happiness and well-being. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Promoting such a culture among our students and citizens will surely contribute to SDG3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages and SDG 8 - Promote Sustained, Inclusive and Sustainable Economies. Sports play key roles in Gender Equality, the fight against poverty, and social inclusion amongst others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sports transcends race, communities, religions and nationalism (yes, i see Nationalism as a key hurdle to achieving global peace) to bring mankind together to overcome hurdles to building global peace and sustainable livelihoods for humanity. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-85834899441539262512019-08-08T23:42:00.000+04:002019-08-08T23:45:59.472+04:00Digital Technologies, Disruption and the role of Universities<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To set the context - Between 1985 and 1989, the Cray-2 was the world’s fastest computer. It was roughly the size of a washing machine. Today, a smart watch has twice its capabilities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While more than 43 % of the world population is connected to the internet with a vast majority of this percentage coming from the developed world, the UN has set the ambitious goal of connecting all the world’s inhabitants to affordable internet by 2020. However, despite the fact that this target looks a bit unrealistic as we near the end of 2019, we have witnessed unprecedented increased access to information, education and global marketplaces, which will empower many people to improve their living conditions and escape poverty. As per the World Economic Forum these 7 technologies are actually changing our world – and this is what is being termed as the 4th Industrial Revolution.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Big Data and Artificial Intelligence </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Digital Health </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Large Scale Digitization </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Internet of Things </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Blockchain </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Digital Learning </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wearable Internet</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, within a small island context, where we are used to be mainly consumers of technology, we need to transform our environment to become innovators and game changers to address the main challenges related to sustainable development, agriculture, health, education, climate amongst others. We need to look into how can research, innovation and development of digital technologies and innovative applications of same can empower small island states to address key issues related to the SDGs through enhanced partnerships between public – private – government – academia. It is preferable to embrace disruption before getting disrupted. <br /><br />Some key leading questions for this session that we hope will be covered:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do we maintain such an ecosystem with these key stakeholders to achieve those goals? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What are the gaps and how to address gaps related to skills mismatch and the collaboration between academia and the private sector? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What type of educational model and curricula that we must focus on? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Can we still focus on the same old recipe to achieve a different outcome? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What type of transformation our education system has to go through to ensure we remain contextually relevant to the i4.0 era? </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There were two keynote speakers and five panelists. Out of the five panelists, three were from industry while two of them represented academia. The keynote speaker, Prof Moran from Curtin University, focused his speech on the role of universities to convert threats related to industry 4.0 into opportunities. He stresses on the role and relevance of Universities in the digital era of disruption while emphasizing on the need to strengthen the partnerships with the private sector. It is however clear that Universities cannot envisage the status-quo scenario. Mr Tan Chee-Peng centred his keynote speech on the importance of a shift in mindset to embrace disruption in the industry 4.0 context. Each of the panelists described key projects and cases from industry on the types of innovation that they were bringing to their own context. Projects on e-Health for example were being undertaken at the level of State Informatics Limited. The representative from Ceridian Mauritius coined the idea of Creativity 1.0 taking over from Industry 4.0. In light with the mindset change as highlighted by Mr Tan Chee-Peng, Mr Mooneegan of Ceridian requested UoM to champion a forum with key stakeholders on Society 5.0. <br /><br />As a concluding note from the Chair of the session, it was highlighted that we tend often to oversimplify the problem by stating – “Either embrace disruption or be disrupted”, but it was clear from the different speakers that there is much more to look at especially from the perspectives of Universities and their leadership roles in the development of a so-called “ecosystem of disruption”. From that, the need for closer ties between University, Government and the Private Sector becomes more obvious – the triple helix model. However, in so doing a number of ethical issues have to be addressed, as highlighted by the different speakers and at the same time, it is important that Universities do not compromise on their core values, independence and academic freedom.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-19858414811698679752019-08-07T22:36:00.000+04:002019-08-07T22:36:03.592+04:00Internationalisation of Higher Education in Africa : Issues and Opportunities<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The UNESCO Symposium on Higher Education was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 24th to 27th July at the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy. The key theme of the conference was Internationalization of Higher Education in Africa and same was addressed through a series of high-level panel discussions and interactions with the participants. One of the sessions was specifically devoted to “Collaborations between African HEIs to contribute towards the SDGs”. A major factor that was highlighted (among other classic factors such as research, engagement with local communities, continuing dialogue with stakeholders, collaboration & exchanges) was the promotion of intra-African mobility. It was highlighted that intra-African mobility was a real short-coming as many African institutions were mainly looking to the north for partnerships and as a result, neglected internationalization within Africa. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One keynote speaker highlighted, according to him,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> the key mistakes that African countries were making while focusing on internationalization. He stressed that in so doing, many countries or Higher Education institutions in Africa were merely copying and pasting what was done by other countries mainly in the developed world in terms of their strategy. His main argument was that internationalization within Africa (what he calls Africanization) was a key step towards strengthening Higher Education Systems in Africa globally. The argument was that a power relationship would still hold when African HEIs partner with those in the North which is not necessarily good for developing countries in the long term. Internationalization of HEIs in Africa has to preserve local contexts, identities, cultures and practices and has to result in the export of these to the global world. The downside of internationalization has also been highlighted, such as increased competition for student recruitment, access to research funds and rat-race for publications. Internationalization activities have also been limited to a handful who have the means to travel abroad (e.g. student exchange). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The internationalization strategy of the University of Mauritius was also presented to the participants of the Masterclass workshop on internationalization and the different components that has been put in place under these strategies. The issue of different secondary educational qualifications within different African countries and their equivalence to meet entry requirements at the University was lengthily discussed and different participants shared their own models and experiences. The moderator highlighted that in the US or UK Universities, they deal with the problem through the Foundation course for African students from those particular countries (who do not have a direct equivalence to match formal entry requirements). While the UNESCO through a presentation regarding conventions for recognition and equivalence of post-secondary educational qualifications in Africa urged countries, who have not yet ratified the convention to do so, it was highlighted that there was a dire need for an African Transnational Qualification Framework that would help address the gaps and harmonize the secondary education qualifications and quality throughout the African community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />The role of Digital Technologies in the internationalization process could not be overlooked and there was a growing consensus among the participants. For a long time, e-learning has been seen as a new form of distance education. However, the emergence of digital technologies, high-performance telecommunications infrastructure has given rise to a completely new dimension to the educational transaction. One speaker coined the idea of having common first year modules for a number of African Universities online to achieve the so-called Africanization of Higher Education. Such modules could be either taught by one lead academic from one University or jointly taught depending on the model in place. Such measures largely made possible by new technologies is a key enabler for internationalization of African universities. <br /></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-4971712839644083862019-07-25T16:15:00.003+04:002019-07-25T16:19:23.685+04:00Moodle 3.X detailed step-by-step guide<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For roughly 2 decades now, we have been using Moodle as the preferred e-Learning platform at the University. Gradually we have moved from version 1.9 to 3.4.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While Moodle is essentially a Learning Content Management System, the structual changes in new generations require both planning for migration but also continuous retraining of staff who are used to previous versions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Training academics on using a new system is indeed a challenging task because of one major risk factor, namely that they forget about the system after the training and do no really engage in its uptake. The second constraint is also reluctant to change, especially when users get used to an existing system.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Training and retraining is also resource-consuming. From preparation to actually running the workshop and ensuring uptake is often an uphill battle. Therefore a tempered approach sometimes can be more helpful by complementing face to face training with self-learning resources which participants can continue to consume after the training. There is thus an improved chance for uptake. The resource being shared below is a detailed 145 slides leading the participant step by step through the Moodle eLearning platform. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-60767766418598301902019-02-18T09:00:00.000+04:002020-04-15T11:59:42.368+04:00Free Public Higher Education - Is it time for a National University of Mauritius?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On the occasion of the new year 2019, the Honorable Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth addressed the nation and announced free tertiary education at undergraduate level for all Mauritians studying in the public institutions of the country. While the population in general reacted favorably to this landmark announcement, there is also skepticism emitted by members of the civil society including political observers, academics and economists. Mauritius is well known for its successful education system. Free education in Mauritius was established by the Government in 1976 which many at the time criticized as an electoral measure while sympathizers of the then Government characterized the initiative as a visionary measure to shape the future of the country. 42 years later, indeed free education has proven to be the engine for the socio-economic progress of Mauritius - a country whose main asset is its manpower and intellectual capital. Free Tertiary Education is not in itself a novel concept. Since 1977 the University of Mauritius was technically delivering undergraduate courses at no cost to those who obtained a seat. Students were not charged tuition fees but nevertheless, had to meet general fees which was around Rs 4000 in the late 1990s and that gradually increased to Rs 27200 in 2018. It is still very affordable from a comparative point of view, but for lower middle class and for those at the bottom of the ladder, access to higher studies might seem a distant dream for them despite other Government measures such as free transportation for students since 2005. The University of Mauritius, for a long period of time since its creation until the early 2000 was the only public university of the country and the preferred institution for the majority of Mauritians who did not have the means to study abroad. In 2018 the University had around 9700 registered students. <br /><br />Read the full article here - </span><br />
<a href="https://africanleadership.co.uk/free-public-higher-education-in-mauritius-and-the-way-forward/"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">https://www.africanleadershipmagazine.co.uk/free-public-higher-education-in-mauritius-and-the-way-forward/</span></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-15547422659697862732019-02-13T09:22:00.003+04:002019-02-13T09:22:46.641+04:00Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning 2019 <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It still feels good and we experience a strangely positive sensation when we flash back to 2010, when the University of Mauritius was announced as the winners of the prestigious award in distance education of the Commonwealth in the category "Interactive Materials Development". In 2016, our team participated in the PCF8 in Malaysia, and it was a really good feeling to see a team of young researchers reach a certain level of maturity presenting in front of an international audience. Their work was commended. PCF9 will now be held in Edinburg and the team is again working to submit proposals to present at the forum. The three abstracts submitted are provided below:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Digital Learning Transformation Roadmap for the University of Mauritius </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The University of Mauritius embarked on the open and distance learning journey in 1993 and engaged in the promotion of distance eLearning and technology-enhanced learning in 2001. At the same time the University’s development was impacted by the integration of technology within different other spheres of the institution’s activities such as financial management and student records. Gradually over the years the University had a well-established financial management system, student information system including online module registration system, the intranet mark posting system, and a human resource management system, an eLearning platform along with a number of other IT-enabled services such as the Google Suite and the Research Management Information System amongst others. However, it has been observed that there are certain gaps and challenges for the institution to achieve its strategic goals. While a number of IT systems have been developed over the past years, they are either operational in isolation or they are under-utilized and might not have not been developed within a coherent strategic context. The University has moved from a traditional credit system to the learner-centered credit system, inspired from the ECTS model in 2018. Such a model is heavily reliant on improved teaching and learning infrastructure, including technology-enabled educational practices as well as on smart and improved services to the academics and students. Within the 21st century context, the strategy of the university is to focus less on the term distance education as the digital technologies have helped to overcome the distance and real-time barrier through virtualization and two-way communication in real time. In this paper we carry out a qualitative analysis using mainly desk studies of existing documents and reports on the current operational model of the University of Mauritius. Based on the information gathered and available a digital transformation roadmap to primarily support the new educational system and the relevant support structures to achieve efficiency, improve learning and teaching and position the University as a key regional player in digital education. The roadmap includes key components such as (i) integration of learning management system with the student information system, (ii) blended learning suite using Google classroom, (iii) knowledge and document management system, (iv) intelligent classroom management through smart card-based services, (v) WebTV and Virtual Lecture Repository and (vi) Mobile Services suite. Within this digital transformation framework, the use predictive analytics through artificial intelligence and machine learning will be transversal to the different components to ensure better efficiency and decision-making processes. A coherent integration strategy and a well-defined action plan, timelines and roles definition are important to ensure a successful implementation of the digital learning transformation process.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Scenario-based Learning Design for Workplace eLearning </span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">eLearning is making significant impact on workplace learning especially in settings where the employer cannot afford to release employees during working hours and where there is a need for rapid and specific personalized training on a particular product or service. In some cases, there are situations where the critical mass is not achieved to justify allocation of resources for presential training. On the other hand, workplace training and learning has to be contextually relevant and concise while achieving key learning outcomes within a specific time-frame. A typical development lifecycle of an eLearning course is a composed of a set of processes and phases depending on the chosen instructional design methods. Classic models such as ADDIE normally span over long periods of time following a waterfall development concept. These approaches or models are not appropriate for workplace eLearning in a professional development context. There is a need for rapid prototyping and development of interactive eLearning products. There are two different approaches for rapid eLearning development namely content-based learning and scenario-based learning. While the rapid eLearning development method can still be applied in a similar manner for each approach, the learning design process is different as one model is mainly centred on knowledge acquisition with some extent of application, while the other model is mainly centred on a complete cycle of knowledge acquisition and application. The former is relevant where a salesperson needs to know, for example, the detailed technical specs of a new computer system which is on sale, while the latter can focus on the development of the right skillset needed to convince a customer to purchase a computer system with the specific technical specs. In this paper we go through the learning design process for scenario-based eLearning using the rapid development methodology using an authentic case-study within the workplace. The main phases of scenario-based eLearning lifecycle is based on the following five phases namely (i) select a specific skillset, (ii) identify and describe a contextual relevant scenario , (iii) develop a storyboard (iv) implement the storyboard into interactive scenes, (v) publish the scenario and (vi) piloting and evaluation. Scenario-based eLearning design are fully SCORM compliant and can be fully integrated into broader course structures on platforms such as MOODLE. We finally demonstrate on the MOODLE Platform how scenario-based eLearning can be used in a hybrid outcomes-based learner centered virtual environment. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><b><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The use of learning analytics to improve online learning experiences: a systematic literature review </span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Information and Communication Technologies are transforming the educational landscape in such a way that there is a blurred line separating traditional teaching and learning and online education. Online education was seen as the logical evolution of distance education with the advances of the Internet and the world-wide web. However, ICTs are transforming the bricks and mortar institutional delivery methods with virtual learning and online learning converging to a such an extent that the learner can experience anytime, anywhere learning irrespective of the mode of education that he or she is engaged into. Such learning transactions occur in virtual environment which are extensively data-driven making educational data mining through learning analytics a useful and powerful tool to assist learning designers and teachers in making pedagogically sound decisions to improve the overall educational experience. Researchers have argued that understanding patterns in such wealth of available data could be of value to address drop-out issues in online learning, improve student engagement and performances as well as the overall learning experience leading to better student satisfaction. Learning analytics, as defined by Long & Siemens (2011), is the means to measure, collect and analyse volumes of data about learners’ progress in order to understand, optimize and improve their learning experiences. Researchers have expressed diverging views about the differences between educational data mining and learning analytics. In this paper we look at the foundations of these divergences, conduct a review of how learning analytics has been applied in online environments and how the field of educational data mining precisely using learning analytics as a method has evolved and impacted on learning experiences of students in terms of retention, performances and student satisfaction. We discuss how different types of analytics such as descriptive, prescriptive and predictive analytics can be used throughout the different phases of the student online learning lifecycle to improve the learning outcomes and experiences of the learner. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-54283951434184920742018-12-26T13:54:00.001+04:002018-12-26T13:54:26.576+04:00One year to go...<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The end of 2018 practically marks the 2nd year into my mandate as Pro Vice-Chancellor. Looking back at the achievements of 2017, and the plans for 2018 and comparing with what has been achieved is overall positive, but personally I think much more could have been done. However, as time goes by, one realizes the complexity of this organization and how it is difficult to bring all ingredients together so as to progress faster towards our goals. Nevertheless, this is a huge learning experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> In 2017 fees for postgraduate courses were reduced massively to encourage more graduates to join the UoM for Masters level programs and to make our courses more accessible to the community. Based on intake numbers for academic year 2018/2019 (Aug 2018 session) we had managed to recruit approximately 300 additional students. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With respect to the internationalization strategy that was approved by Council, the International Affairs Office is now operational and is highly engaged into making staff and student exchange programmes successful, and working with student recruitment agencies to increase the intake of international students. The August 2019 student recruitment will provide us with an indication on how this strategy will fare. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The framework for the GTES has allowed the UoM to get engaged with industry related courses smoothly. Two such programmes are running with Accenture and one with Maubank after the policy had been approved. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we have moved to the learner-centred credit system modeled on the ECTS (a system that I always thought would be an improvement of the actual teacher-centred credit system of the UoM), the technology-enabled learning policy will now play an important role as the UoM starts implementing the LCCS. LCCS is being piloted and managed by my colleague Pro VC (Academia) with close support from my office. In terms of the eLearning infrastructure, new servers are being purchased, and cloud hosting of the eLearning platform is being envisaged, while ZOOM is being used for the delivery of virtual lectures. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Regarding the BSc Digital Innovation and Enterprise, a partnership with an important IT company and key local player is being formalized and we expect this to be ready for our August 2019 intake. We are also working with the Faculty of ICDT to kickstart short professional certification courses related to the film post-production sector. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In terms of consultancy and contract research the figures are just unbelievable with an all time peak of around 50M MUR reached in terms of total project value. Beating this for the forthcoming years might be a real challenge, but the idea is to continue to aim higher and higher. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /> For 2019, the two key plans are as follows: </span><ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> To engage into transformation leadership development at the UoM at all levels through a series of capacity building with the support of a highly experienced local consultant.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The setting up of the UoM Foundation to allow endowments to the University from benefactors. This is not new as the work had started previously but it had stalled for some reasons. <br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Increasing student numbers especially postgrad and international students while stabilizing the intakes on undergraduate programmes through innovative marketing approaches. <br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Staff welfare is high on my list, but the task is a bit more difficult than I thought, so it’s part of the longer-term strategy. Two key aspects of focus here – continuous professional development and team-building/leadership/loyalty and sense of belonging/humanity first approach. To achieve these, there are a few hurdles to surmount. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Of course, my office is engaged into a lot of additional activities which have had impacts and I must acknowledge that I am surrounded by a team of highly competent and loyal professionals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-26452337040208680852018-11-19T14:50:00.002+04:002018-11-19T14:56:21.254+04:00Little knowledge is dangerous!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It has been quite a while that I was reflecting on a few issues and was willing to find an interesting subject to narrate down some of my thoughts towards the end of this year. In fact, I was always reflecting that in such a world dominated by technology, the internet and unprecedented, uncontrolled access to information, not only how do we filter what is to be retained and to focus ourselves upon, but also how do we refrain from self-proclaiming ourselves as the jack of all trades but the masters of none! In such a world where one can know about the causes of diabetes in split-second search using three keywords, that does not make one a medical practitioner or a specialist in diabetes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately, what we see nowadays is that too many of us, including me maybe, often think we know better in every field than our fellow real experts in those areas. Why is it like that? Possibly because one has difficulty to establish himself or herself in his or her own chosen field. This might be one reason. The other reason could be that one is always on the look-out to prove he or she is a multi-skilled person with spectacular cross-competencies, and therefore try to get involved in everything that moves. Having said that, it does not mean that one should not be doing so, as after all many of us do make a living out of the so-called “general knowledge” and we are free to think and do whatever we want as long as it’s within the law. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Reading a lot, carrying out intensive research on things that we have particular interest in, and engaging in a few projects and activities here and there, do indeed bring us to a certain level of self-improvement. However, this does not make us experts in the area. In this world where digitization is taking on everyone and everything by storm, does it mean that everyone who uses WhatsApp or is able to send an email is an IT professional? That reminds me of the current buzzwords, such as Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. I still recall that 17 years ago when I was doing a master’s in business information technology, we used neural network to predict the prices of gold, and we were exposed to the concept of fuzzy logic for expert system-based reasoning and the use of genetic algorithms for decision-making processes in businesses. We were talking at that time about how to structure data in data warehouses, and how the analysis of patterns and trends in those data could help businesses. Any clue of what that meant? Yes, it’s called data science today!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Let me come to the point now – my area that is education technology. I joined the Virtual Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies in 2001 when two persons (not me..) with great vision dared to go forward with the international trend at that time, when good internet connectivity was still a luxury in Mauritius. The Centre struggled for a few years, until we managed to start running online programs with the little means and all the constraints and barriers that we have had to face. At one point in time, the student population of this Centre was even greater that one or two faculties of the University. We developed strategies, technologies, engaged into research and development and consultancies, battled through resistance, and attempts from even the top management at some point in time for our existence, and achieved international recognition and awards. Education Technology is heavily reliant on two things – Pedagogical and Technical ICT knowledge. When we had to decide with Prof Senteni at one point in time for the profile of Instructional Designers cum Education Technologist at the Centre we had two options of either to take persons with education / human sciences profile and train them in ICT or those with a strong ICT background and train them in pedagogy. We opted for the second option, and we took the correct decision. However, in all of these aspects there is one variable not in our hands – adoption of EdTech by academics who are traditionally resistant, and this is not phenomenon encountered only in Mauritius but everywhere in the world. Those who adopt it and use ICTs in their teaching and learning become innovative 21st Century Practitioners, but not de-facto edTech specialists or strategists. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Technologies keep evolving as well as pedagogies, but they do not happen at the same time and in the same rhythm. When our eLearning platform is not able to send a Forum Digest or Emails, that does not mean that our knowledge of EdTech is poor. That does not our knowledge of ICTs is poor. It could mean our policies of applying certain restrictions on our technology infrastructure is not allowing it while it may also simply mean we need to check on which ports to be opened. It might also mean that we know all of these but sometimes it’s a mere lack of communication and coordination that it does not happen. I always had a position which was against the overly application of security protocols in educational institutions (I used to quote this “when a thief gets in your house through a window, you do not replace the window by a layer of brick!” to express my stand), but again in this highly evolving world, I appreciate that security of data, and protection of our systems are also critical set-pieces in the long term sustainability of digitally transformed institutions. Therefore, ten years down the line, yes my stand has changed, and there is a need to relook at our strategies. The most important thing though – Awareness, and we are! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Maintaining a balance, and a well-defined approach with a holistic vision of the future, coupled of course with the fact that it is important to maintain a high quality of service is key to quality online provisions. However if educational technology leaders (do they have contemporary relevant leadership skills?), cannot understand that very key aspect and the core ingredients and the drivers for their edTech strategy, they will always be the ripe target for the tons of edTech consultants that exist out there, and whose primary job is to make a living out of edTech which finally will end most of the time in the organization of a few workshops, one or two reports but with no concrete output or outcome, because time and experience has showed it to us : “ C’est un parcours du combattant ! “, and at least we, or for once, “I” can proudly say – “I” am not a novice. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As the saying goes….”little knowledge is dangerous” and “nul n’est prophète dans son pays!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-72673138665906549082018-11-14T22:31:00.000+04:002018-11-14T22:31:17.432+04:00UoM Trisector Society Celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is a copy of my speech on that occasion as the Chief Guest of the event, representing the Vice-Chancellor.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Prof Hookoomsing, former Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University, Ms Bhurtoni (Disability Activist), Mr Boodhun (Legal Lead Accenture Mauritius), Ms Gopee (Project Coordinator, Inclusion Mauritius), Colleagues of the University, Staff and Students, </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ladies and Gentlemen – good afternoon to you all. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg7VnncglAZnKPZsxVW7oeckSF_Cpwo6S0asXeF3JSUV-RvDRR_kg2PnDyxFMd7nlxxvnMD_LLa547gqBi5ybxqhkNeEtUaawHG-YJL43nxqPFj-Pv7bRxMXkM2E39lJHdEob7oRxlaU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-11-12+at+00.26.13.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="479" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg7VnncglAZnKPZsxVW7oeckSF_Cpwo6S0asXeF3JSUV-RvDRR_kg2PnDyxFMd7nlxxvnMD_LLa547gqBi5ybxqhkNeEtUaawHG-YJL43nxqPFj-Pv7bRxMXkM2E39lJHdEob7oRxlaU/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-11-12+at+00.26.13.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am pleased today to be among you here on the occasion of this laudable initiative by the UoM Students’ Tri-Sector Society in the context of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. At the level of the University and in line with our Core Values, we are leaving no stone unturned to put in place appropriate infrastructure to ensure that our fellow citizens with any type of disability are given the full support to study in a conducive and inclusive environment. Access to education is a critical factor for anyone to have a chance to live a decent and normal life afterwards. However, there is still more to be done, and we reckon that without the support and contribution of each and everyone of us, progress will be limited. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The tri-sector concept is no doubt one of the key ingredients to help towards the holistic inclusion of persons with disabilities in the society, as we can witness today by the presence of friends from the private sector, civil societies and government, including academia. At the University, we have coined the term a bit differently through what we call the triple-helix model with a fourth dimension, the people. Indeed, no model or approach will be successful if the human aspect is not present. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mauritius is a fast-developing country, and the ingredients that will help us to move from a middle-income country to a high-income economy is there, the blueprint is there and key actions are reflected every year in the budget. But in that quest for development and economic progress, there are two important questions to answer: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In our rush and quest for more progress and development, are we not leaving behind key values of humanity, mankind and ensure inclusion at all levels and for all types of vulnerable groups? </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How come in the Mauritius of the 21st Century we still have families living in extreme poverty, and others struggling to live a decent life because of prejudices? </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Inclusion of all different groups in society is indeed a pressing issue not only at the local level but in a global world and is not only limited to people with disabilities. Indeed, having international days to remember, celebrate and sensitize the world about challenges, difficulties and achievements of mankind and organizing workshops and events of this kind definitely help to further such causes that we live and stand for. However, it will be of no use if there is no change in human mentality and our inner attitudes, behavior and the whole bunch of prejudices that exist from within us. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To be able to bring this change in mentality and inner attitudes we first need to go back to what we often call “the first principles” and engage in deeper thinking about the very basis of our existence on this earth and about its purpose. Today in this world we are taught to show contempt first rather than compassion towards a fellow human being. Yes, while giving someone 5 cents to complete the rupee you might have been lured by unknowingly paying for someone to buy a cigarette but have you ever thought that in some other cases it might have been the 5 missing cents for someone to buy milk for his kids? No, because we are now in a ruthless society where everyone is in a race to get ahead of the other. We have learnt to think differently. We are taught to look at the 5 cents less we will have rather than the rupee the person in need will have and which could change the world for him. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is unfortunate today that mankind despite being granted with brilliance, intelligence, and superior abilities, yet drops bombs in its greed for power and thirst for more wealth to create more disabled persons. As somebody has rightly said “I see humans but no humanity”. This is why today, it is more than commendable that you are engaged in a noble cause linked to basic humanitarian values of not letting anyone behind and helping each other to overcome the challenges of life which often takes diverse forms. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Therefore, as the youth representing the future generations of leaders, professionals, and as ordinary citizens, my message to all of you here is to never abandon those in need and to always thrive to give mankind back “ses lettres de noblesse”. It does not take much to be a better human being and I personally believe that there is no better place than a University to set the foundations for a better world. On this note, and on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor and the University, I wish to reiterate my thanks to all those present as well as the speakers who have kindly agreed to take part in this workshop.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-9542650448846919012018-11-01T21:34:00.001+04:002018-11-01T21:40:23.095+04:00Africa’s Movers and Shakers in Corporate Online Learning 2018<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A list of the one hundred most influential people in online learning learning in Africa is published in the context of the eLearning Africa 2018 conference. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">According to the article published on learningnews.com, "this list represents the views of key people about the personalities
who lead the online learning world in Africa. Several hundred people
received nominations. The judging process was carried out by an
independent – and non-African - group of judges from the online learning
technologies industry. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While this list is <b>not</b> endorsed in any way by the
organisers of the eLearning Africa event, in Kigali, Rwanda, from 26 to
28 September 2018, the event’s organisers supported the idea of the List
by using their extensive network to invite nominations. Moreover, they
recognise that the List gives visibility and “status” to the online
learning sector in Africa and promotes discussion of this sector within
Africa"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Among the three to four persons from Africa, i am pleased to come at the 39th place in the "premier platinum" category. The description given is as follows:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-i-santally-13ab1957/" rel="nofollow"><b>39. Santally Mohammad Issack</b></a>
- Pro Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources) at the University of
Mauritius, who promotes e-learning within the university and
collaborates with agencies, such as the Commonwealth of Learning, to
train officers of the Food and Agricultural Research Institute (FAREI)
to develop e-learning materials for small and medium enterprises in the
farming sector. </span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I wish to place on record my thanks to colleagues especially Prof Jhurry, the Vice-Chancellor who believed in me and nominated me for this list. I am also thankful to the COL/FAREI and other organisations with whom i worked closely in the past. I also wish to congratulate my good friend Kaviraj Sukon, Director General of the Open University of Mauritius to have made it to the 22nd place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The full article and the list can be accessed here: </span></div>
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<a href="https://learningnews.com/news/bob-little-press-pr/2018/africas-movers-and-shakers-in-corporate-online-learning-2018"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">https://learningnews.com/news/bob-little-press-pr/2018/africas-movers-and-shakers-in-corporate-online-learning-2018</span></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-72013093877963496282018-08-27T22:20:00.000+04:002018-08-27T22:24:06.934+04:00Alternative modes of assessment and evaluation of student learning for 21st Century Education<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Assessment and evaluation of student learning is an integral component of the learning process. Assessment can either be formative or summative. Formative assessment is usually done throughout the course to allow the teacher to monitor the learning progress and use valuable feedback to either change the way teaching is being done to promote better understanding and to also give the student feedback on his or her progress to allow the student to identify areas where he or she needs to input more effort. On the other hand, summative assessment is a way to measure and evaluate the students learning at the end through a kind of a more formal and structured activity such as written examinations or a project. In all cases, the main objective of summative and formative evaluations is to ensure that intended learning outcomes are met. It is therefore important to define clear assessment criteria for each intended learning outcome. <br /><br />In many elitist and competitive systems, supervised closed book examinations have long been seen as the preferred choice for student assessment and evaluation. It was perceived as the best way to ensure that the assessment processes were reliable, authentic and to maintain the integrity of the competition. Over the years the model has been widely implemented and accepted at all levels of the education systems throughout the globe. However, researchers and practitioners have started since some time to question the validity and relevance of such examinations, that normally rely mainly on memorization abilities of learners and have a limited range of application, in terms of what we can really measure out of them. With the proliferation of technologies and the internet, does it still make sense to rely on the ability of individuals to memorize and recall information in a closed-book examinations setting that lasts a few hours? Is it sufficient to assess in such a span of time about the intended learning outcomes and the learning that took place over one year? Is it a reliable way to measure whether the students have the necessary skills to apply their knowledge in the real world and in authentic situations? <br /><br /> While many developed countries and higher education institutions of the North have started to gradually move away from the traditional systems of evaluation and assessment, we note that developing countries are still lagging behind and in many cases, we have witnessed the consolidation of such systems. On one hand people would be talking about 21st Century Education while on the other hand, in the name of quality assurance, decision makers and school leaders would prefer to play the safe way by maintaining supervised closed book examinations. When we refer to 21st Century education, it is often pointing to learning in a context driven by technology and amidst an unrivalled abundance of all sorts of information at your fingertip. <br /><br /> When you could get to know the Capital of any country or the date a particular President of the United States died within seconds on the Internet, we need to ask ourselves, about the relevance or pertinence to ask a kid or a University student to remember this information because they might come out in an examination? Is it not wiser in the current era that we assess their ability to use the right tool to find such information when the question is being put to them? This further reminds me of a technique often used by some teachers of General Paper subject. They would dictate their students different sorts of essays related to themes normally to be covered or that may be highly probable to come out for the exams. Students would be expected to memorize these essays to have a better chance to perform in the exams. <br /><br /> 21st Century Education is not only about developing a certain expertise of a subject matter but also characterized as the acquisition of other skills known as soft skills such as the ability to communicate better, to apply the knowledge acquired and to develop the capability to engage into reflexive practices. In the past, the teacher was seen as the one who knows it all. The content was at the center of the teaching and learning process. This is no longer true in the information and knowledge age. It is therefore obvious that the teaching methods and assessment instruments that we devise are relevant to that specific context. If the way we teach changes, then the way to assess has to evolve accordingly. Let us have a look of a few alternatives to the standard supervised closed book examinations. <br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Project Work</b><br /><br />Project work has the merit to engage students into inquiry-based learning combining at the same time acquisition of information, application of knowledge and to reflect on one’s own learning through a presentation of the work done, or through the write-up of a report. Project work can be done individually or in teams and occurs over an extended period of time. At the end of the project, an artefact is normally produced which is assessed based on pre-defined criteria. <br /><b><br /> Open book exams</b> <br /><br /> Open book exams can be considered as the most direct alternative to closed-book examinations as such exams are often conducted under the same parameters as closed book examinations. However they are very much different in substance, as the majority if not all of the questions set would not rely on memorization but rather would test problem-solving abilities of the student. They could be given a complex question or case-studies such as the need to advise a client on a particular legal issue, and they are allowed to consult existing laws, previous cases and other relevant documents.<br /><br /><b> Formative Assessment - Reflective Journals, Peer Assessment and Tutor Feedback </b><br /><br /> Role plays, scenarios and simulations are considered as experiential learning. Modern teaching techniques also refer to these techniques as gamification or games-based learning. They learn through interaction within a predefined context in an environment which is recreated to provide a simulation of a real-world situation where learning takes place as they walk through the process at different stages. This is called active learning and are best assessed through formative assessment techniques such as keeping a reflective journal, tutor feedback or peer-assessment. An example is to setup a mock Court room where Bar students practice as the Defence and Prosecution to argue a case. They can be assessed by their peers and their tutor as well. <br /><br /> <b>Practical Work in Authentic Settings</b><br /> There are two ways to achieve practical work in authentic settings. The first one can take place for example in a computer lab where students develop a piece of software to solve a real problem. These types of assessment can take the form of hackathons where teams are formed and work on a specific identified problem theme with the aim to win the contest. Practical work in authentic settings also take the form of a more formal placement in a work environment where they are assessed on different elements and skills that are expected from them. Such concept is often called work-based learning and the aim is to improve the learning experience of the student and his or her readiness to get on the job market. <br /><br /> <b>Portfolios</b><br /> A portfolio is basically a collection of artefacts produced by a student during the course of a study which is then presented to the tutor for assessment. Portfolios are a useful way for a student to demonstrate application of knowledge and his or her skillset that has been acquired. A portfolio from a trainee teacher can contain a set of lesson plans that he or she designed and used in the class with the students during a teacher training course. A portfolio is normally accompany by a critical reflection component where the person records his or her feelings, findings, views and reflections through the learning process while building the portfolio. <br /><br /> Moving to alternative modes of assessment and student evaluation should however be done in such a way that the integrity and seriousness of the processes are not compromised. The necessary checks and balances have to be put in place. For example, there is a need to ascertain that authorship of a report is really that of the student. This can be done through putting in place regular meetings to check progress. The use of anti-plagiarism software also helps to establish that a report is a students’ own work and not copied from other sources. Holding viva-voce presentations (oral examinations) at the end of any project or after submissions of portfolios can help establish authenticity and prevent abuses to occur. These should however be done, having in mind, and accepting the fact that examinations in whatever form they take are never foolproof.<br /><br /> As a concluding note, choosing the right model or type of evaluation or assessment instruments depends on what you want to assess, as well as on the subject area being assessed. No assessment method or instrument should be excluded from the beginning. It is also considered a good practice to have a variety of assessment instruments and methods in a curriculum. The idea in not to solely rely on one specific method every time and in every situation. <br /><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-36236631055079125792018-08-22T18:07:00.002+04:002018-08-22T18:07:55.558+04:00Keynote Speech @ eMerge Africa 2018 - Two decades of eLearning @ the University of Mauritius<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was invited to deliver a keynote speech to the eMerge Africa 2018 conference (also referred to as the festival of eLearning in Africa) which took place as an online event, hosted by the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching, of the University of Cape Town (UCT). This was an excellent opportunity for us to share our own experience in the area as practitioners, researchers and advocates of 21st Century Learning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The link to the Conference and Keynote Speakers is provided <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/emerge2018/keynotes?authuser=0" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The premise of my talk again centered on the reason why the University shifted its strategy from the traditional distance education concept (yes, I find this term to be an oxymoron in the 21st Century, especially in a world dominated by ICTs and virtualization) to the more contemporary concepts of distributed learning and using the “ubiquitous” nature of ICTs and the Internet to transform teaching and learning in the 21st Century. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The talk provided a timeline of the key events, and strategic shifts from 2001 till now and argues how a transformation of the current education system of the University of Mauritius through ICT leverages will help us to address the present and future challenges in such a way that we ensure the sustainability and relevance of the institution down the years. </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="470px" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://www.slideshare.net/moham14/slideshelf" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="615px"></iframe></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-77769208478399278582018-05-27T22:12:00.003+04:002018-05-27T22:14:02.133+04:00UNESCO Mobile Learning Week Presentation<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Mobile Learning Week is UNESCO’s flagship ICT in education conference. The Mobile Learning Week 2018 was organized in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for ICT. The 2018 event was organized under the theme “Skills for a connected world”. Participants exchanged knowledge about the ways governments and other stakeholders can define and achieve the skills-related targets specified by Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I submitted a proposal for presentation titled “Capacity-building of Educators for 21st Century Skills - Developing agents of change through formal and informal approaches using a 4P Innovation model” which was retained among the 60 selected presentations out of about 300 submissions. The audience to the presentation included Advisors to Minister of Education of the UAE, public and private sector individuals, academics and representatives of NGOs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One of the main components of the presentation focused on the BABA-TV project in which the UoM is a partner. The project relates to a mass-literacy initiative over Africa in collaboration with partners from France. The key message delivered in the speech was that much of the focus of the conference was on the education for kids and the youth, but there was a lack of emphasis on the importance of the need to train parents as well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br />Key Ideas </b><br /><br /> A key idea that emerged there which would be of benefit for Mauritius in achieving SDG4 would be to revamp the idea of the “Ecole des Parents”. In the digital age, this could take the form of webinars, MOOCs and face-to-face meetings in Social Community Centres to help those living in vulnerable situations. <br /><br /> The eKitabu project was another project that captured attention where Kenya is embarking on the digitization of school textbooks, with an intention similar to the one behind the tablet project in Mauritius. An innovative idea in the context of the University based on the eBook concepts, and inspired also from a similar project in UK/Scotland where University professors have embarked on to the publication of low cost e-textbooks on Amazon Kindle surfaced during the discussions, but applied in our context to our OER repository project. One of the forms that the OER repository could take would be as a repository of free e-textbooks published as OER and which could serve either as building blocks to modules that can lead to the accumulation of credits. <br /><br /> One of the main message put forward in the opening of the conference was a new concept – gender equality and the digital divide. It was postulated Gender gap in internet usage is widening. Now the gender issue is getting its way into the use of technology also. Is it a real issue? If yes to what extent? Is it linked to poverty issues again, as a side-effect? There can be room for research here in Mauritius and to compare with global figures. <br /><br /> The Minister of ICT of Egypt talked about the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for teachers in the plenary session while the Advisor to the Ministry of Education of the UAE talked about the maturity of schools in terms of adopting technology. A key idea here emerged with respect to our ongoing funded project on Education Leadership for the 21st Century by the AAUN, where we could work towards a Leadership Maturity Model for Mauritius Schools in terms of ICTinEd. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-71537650243771461102018-03-09T14:04:00.000+04:002018-03-09T14:04:35.665+04:00Mauritius of tomorrow : Panel discussion on Radio+<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was part of the panel on Radio+ and the debate was centered mainly around Mauritius of the future. I had mainly prepared my intervention to orient it mainly around the role of the University and the importance of education in general to shape the future of this country. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is a brief of the main questions on which I intervened and I try to engage into some further reflections in this article. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Question 1 – What is your vision of the future for Mauritius? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></i></b><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After Jugdish Joypaul made a brief intro and painted an overview of the progress of the Country since independence, he asked me that question. My main reflection is that Mauritius is a fast-developing country, and the ingredients that will help us to move from a middle-income country to a high-income economy is there, the blueprint is there and key actions are reflected every year in the budget. But in that quest for development and economic progress, the key reflection I wish that we should make for Mauritius is the following: </span><br /><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In our rush and quest for more progress and development, are we not leaving behind key values of humanity, mankind and ensure inclusion? </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How come in the Mauritius of the 21st Century we still have families living in extreme poverty? </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is unconceivable for our country and this is our biggest risk for the future. It is high time that we put a pause and reflect on what we have called “living values” at the University. Socio-economic development does not necessary bring more social justice. So the vision of the future in Mauritius, is that there should be no families living under poverty lines in Mauritius. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Question 2 – On the issue of skills mismatch, the role of Universities and the jobs of the future </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></b></i><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I brought the discussion along the key reflection question : What is the fundamental role of a University? For me the main role of the University is to prepare individuals for the future. A future, that is uncertain and unexpected, but where one is well-equipped to face. This is where the concepts of 21st Century skills are important, and where Universities have now to rethink of the type of education and pedagogies that they are putting in place. There is a need to ensure that students are able to apply their skills, and become resilient for the future, so that they are able to adapt to changing contexts. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having said that the role of the University is also to produce manpower who can directly contribute to the needs of the country and the industry. On this aspect the University is capitalizing on schemes such as GTES that has been put in place by the Government. There is a need to balance how Universities deal with the problematic of producing graduates with skills that are immediately applicable for industry, develop individuals with skills to be resilient in the future, and to train people for the jobs of the future. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is also a problem in the mindset of the youth. They think that when they possess a qualification in a particular sector they have to work at all costs in that area. I took the example of someone who comes out with a management degree, expecting to be recruited as a Manager. I took my own example highlighting my first degree in Physics, with a Masters in IT but I worked in the Education field more precisely ICT in Education. Now as a Pro VC I have a portfolio ranging from Finance, HR, PR and advancement of the University while my main qualifications are in Science & Technology. What is more important is therefore to inculcate skills such as decision making, leadership development, rational thinking and often a dose of common-sense in our students. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The University of Mauritius has always been playing a key role in supporting the development of the country, when we setup the school of Agriculture, then launching the Engineering faculty and the Textile Department, moving into Tourism, Ocean Sciences and finally the setup of the Faculty of Information, Communication and Digital Technologies. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Question 3 – On the issue of the role of Government and the poor to eradicate poverty </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></b></i><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While it is the duty of Government to eradicate poverty, special reference here is made to the eradication of extreme poverty, the Government has mainly a role of policy making, and making the money available. However, there is a need to rethink in-depth the role of NGOs and whether they are effective in the fight against poverty. The approach according to me is wrong, as there is no defined process to measure impact and outcomes. NGOs have just become like research institutes where the key is about having the knowledge to write projects to obtain grants. All these money being injected to fight poverty, a country like Mauritius should not have families living in extreme poverty. On the reflection, that whether the onus is not also on the families to make the necessary effort, it is important to know that when a kid is not well fed since his birth, his cognitive and executive functions will not be fully developed in his crucial early years. Therefore poverty becomes a vicious circle for the poor irrespective whether they have the will or not to get out of poverty. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Question 4 – On the issue of brain drain </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></b></i><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mauritius has two key issues to tackle. The first one is ageing of the population and the second one is the issue of brain drain. Well, a lot is being said on brain drain but as Charles Cartier put it, Mauritius is among the rare countries that helps its brain to leave the country and not to come back – the laureate system. I said that although it’s a problem, in such a global world we cannot prevent the youth and other citizens from leaving the country. However we can always work on schemes and incentives to retain our youth. One of the key issues is that technical education is not valued in Mauritius and there is a disparity in the salaries. This is why everyone prefers to go to University – we would all recall the (in)famous one graduate per family policy, which has both its merits and its disadvantages. Hopefully with the polytechnics things will improve, and also with the 9-year schooling, but these remain to be seen. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-16368630946296712012018-02-28T21:44:00.000+04:002018-02-28T21:44:47.006+04:00Mauritius as an Education Hub Roundtable - Some Reflections<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were about 10 panelists including 4 Ministers with Australian counterparts on the theme of “Mauritius as an Education Hub”. The meeting was chaired by Raj Makoond and a number of officials from Ministries and Parastatal bodies attended the meeting. First of all this was a nice initiative…on a Sunday ! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />The different presenters talked about either Government Policies, or institutional strategies that are being put in place to promote Mauritius as an education hub. The Australian counterparts talked about how Universities from Australia and Mauritius could collaborate. One of the talks that impressed me was the one from Mat, the CEO of DUCERE who spoke mainly about disruption in education, highlighting the collaboration of DUCERE with University of Mauritius and laying emphasis on the possibilities for the Mauritius Education Sector to grow and conquer the African market. The Director of TEC also laid emphasis on Quality Education and Quality Assurance and Regulations. <br /><br />One key question which was not covered and which is a very simple one was -What is an Education Hub? What do we mean when we talk of our country as an Education Hub? Remember Education hub concept in Mauritius has been a fashion frenzy word since 2009 when there was a Ministry looking after Tertiary Education. The concept in fact during the period 2009-2014 caused much harm to Mauritius as a potential education destination. <br /><br />The second reflection I had was the following (in the form of a question): Can we equate quality in higher education to more strict regulatory frameworks? This brings us back to the TEC, a much disputed institution prior to 2015. However, we must admit that the current Minister and the newly appointed Director Prof Nair have brought some sense of stability and credibility to this institution. Two key questions, intrinsically linked to each other. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SO what is an education hub? Why would our dear friends from Australia wish that Mauritius becomes an education hub? Will that not compete with them after all? Figures would show us how important the education “industry” is to the US, UK and Australia when it comes to exporting it to other regions as a commodity. Now Asian countries are joining the race – Malaysia, India, and China are all the new big players in the field. Student migration data clearly illustrate the positioning of the Asian countries. However, many of these countries do lack what we have – Bilingualism, our proximity to Africa and our ancestral link with India including other factors such as our political stability, and more and more, our country being now seen as the “Mauritian” dream for many Africans, Indians, and Bangladeshis… who would want to elect our country as a 2nd domicile at all cost. You do get the message, yes. There are risks also out there. The other issue is how do we become this hub? Empower our own institutions ? Can they be up to the level? Are they attractive enough to the international student community? Or do we maintain the trend of getting the big guns in the country to the detriment of our public institutions? This could be a good strategy though if we were to be looking at reducing public spending and creating institutions of average level which often do not contribute enough. Do we then merge the main public institutions in one mega University as France is doing? Strategy and a Grand vision is key here, otherwise our higher education sector can face real issues. Unless as I said, looking at the bigger sphere, might lead us to try to become an Education, Research& Innovation hub all at once, where the legislative framework would require that private foreign institutions have to invest into Research and Innovation programs and not only contend to deliver training and courses, make money and then pull out currency from the country. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coming to the second question, this is an area where the Higher Education Bill is very interesting. It separates the QA function from the regulatory process. The regulatory process is linked mainly with the legal framework in place, and ensuring that institutions willing to operate in Mauritius comply with these. Often such processes and due diligence have been equated to quality assurance. Quality Assurance is key to Mauritius becoming that much awaited education hub, and QA has to become the trademark for our Universities. A trademark that has to be preserved and seen to be preserved (reference here to the Quality Assurance Agency to be setup) so that our Universities keep striving for continuous improvement. This has to be their main selling point. Then, instead of competing with each other, they could contemplate the concept of co-opetition where the collaborate while engaging in a healthy competition linked to the pursuit of their own excellence and QA trademark. <br /><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2409175079779682639.post-50786989694382539272017-12-09T00:04:00.002+04:002017-12-09T00:08:44.654+04:00Year 2017 in retro….<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The end of 2016 marked a landmark battle to keep the Centre for Innovative & Lifelong Learning intact amidst attempts to integrate it in the newly created Faculty of Information, Communication and Digital Technologies. That was the best of all battles I fought with the management of the University since 2014 when CILL was established. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The year 2017 however was the year of a complete turn-around when I was appointed as Pro VC (Planning & Resources), an appointment which came as a big surprise and completely unexpected. Although I never doubted in my own ability to take up this challenge, the aim behind me sending an application was completely different. I recall my good friend telling me "if you get interview, then it’s a chance to go and tell them what we do at CILL, and what is our vision of a university for the future”. This is what we did and we convinced them it seems…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">April 2017 – when I took over office I kept thinking why there were only two applications for this post, when many of us at this institution were certainly eligible. One thing that I realized though, the challenge was huge, but my previous experience in management and leading CILL and ex-VCILT for 8 years had given me something, which I even did not realize that I had. I knew in fact a lot about how the university functions, and I always used to say – ‘to change the system, you need to be in the system”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I used to be a rebel thinker and a constant challenger of the traditional ways of doing things (i am still one) which had started to turn the university in a archaic system. I practically became a non-conformist. I had a different perspective of what the University should be and how it should operate for the 21st Century. I still have one which is quite different from the current reorientation but its worth saying there are many similarities. I had started to develop my own ideology and philosophy of organisational culture and values that would transform the institution into a better institution, according to me. So now I had become empowered at a higher level to do a number of things that I could not do at the lower level. Of course, I still have a boss (VC) and another colleague Pro VC to convince, but so far so good on a number of things for which I am given the latitude to act.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So what has been achieved in 2017? I will summarize mainly in bullet points covering the most urgent ones, which were pending since more than 3 years and which have been facilitated under my responsibility this year –</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Decrease in postgraduate fees overall at the university to position the University as a preferred destination for both local and foreign students.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Approval of the University Technology-Enabled Learning Policy that remained stagnant since 2015.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Establishment of a framework for the University to engage in the Graduate Training Employment Scheme. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Approval of the Internationalisation Strategy for the University to ensure the visibility of the University outside Mauritius (supposed to be approved in 2015).</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These four key elements above will hopefully set a solid foundation to ensure the digital transformation of the University as well as ensuring the long-term sustainability of the institution. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The focus for 2018 will now be as follows:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Transforming UoM in a value-driven organisation and developing a values-led culture among employees.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Development of an Open Educational Resources Platform for free dissemination of knowledge and content on a national and regional level.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Implementation of the technology-enabled policy and upgrade of the eLearning Infrastructure.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Capacity-building to train techno-preneurs through the BSc Digital Innovation and Enterprise which is based on a unique innovative pedagogical model.</span></li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com