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Vice Chancellors' Roundtable Meeting Calls for Strengthening Collaboration among Open Universities

The Open University OERFest 2024, hosted by the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) and Dr B R Ambedkar Open University (Dr BRAOU), concluded with a Vice Chancellors’ Roundtable Meeting on 20 April 2024. The event brought together Vice Chancellors, faculty members, and officials from 17 state open universities across India, as well as representatives from key education and skilling agencies of the Indian government and Telangana state government, to discuss and strengthen the open and distance learning (ODL) landscape through Open Educational Resources (OER).

The meeting aimed to bolster collaboration among open universities through OER sharing and to establish a national OER repository, thereby enhancing learning outcomes for students in India's ODL system.

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Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Maharashtra, Successfully Concluded FDP on TEL and Blended Learning with COL-CEMCA and AIU Support

The Asian regional centre of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (COL-CEMCA), in collaboration with the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), effectively concluded the online Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on Technology-Enabled Learning (TEL) and Blended Learning at Somaiya Vidyavihar University (SVU), Mumbai, Maharashtra, on 17 January 2025.

Throughout the FDP, the COL-CEMCA consultants adopted various interactive and engaging facilitation approaches, such as presentations by experts, fun activities, and breakout rooms, to train more than 80 educators on NEP 2020, Technology-enabled Learning (TEL) and Blended learning, Open Educational Resources (OER), the Graduate Employability Framework, and Institutional Blended Learning Policy (IBLP) template.   

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COL-CEMCA, AIU and SVU Join Hands to Organise Online FDP on TEL and Blended Learning for Educators

The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre (COL-CEMCA), Commonwealth of Learning (COL)’s Asian regional centre, and the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) are collaborating to conduct Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs) on Technology-enabled Learning (TEL), and Blended Learning in AIU’s Academic and Administrative Development Centres (AADCs) hosted by member higher education institutions (HEIs) across India. The first FDP in this series was held at the NorthCap University in Gurugram, Haryana. The second webinar is being hosted by the Faculty and Staff Development Centre (FSDC) at Somaiya Vidyavihar University (SVU) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, from 13 to 17 January 2025.

This landmark FDP is focusing on empowering the SVU faculty members to adopt TEL and blended learning to enrich their teaching and learning practices. The webinar was inaugurated on 13 January 2025 by eminent dignitaries from COL-CEMCA, AIU, and SVU, with more than 70 participants attending the session on Day 1. The event highlighted the increasing importance of these approaches in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which was underlined by all the speakers on this occasion.

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Empowering Higher Education: COL-CEMCA and AIU organise FDP on TEL and Blended Learning at NorthCap University in Haryana, India

The Commonwealth of Learning's regional centre, Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (COL-CEMCA) and the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) successfully conducted a five-day hybrid Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on Technology-enabled and Blended Learning from 6-10 January 2025 at The NorthCap University (NCU), Gurugram, Haryana. The initiative aligns with the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), which advocates continuous professional development for educators to enhance teaching practices and institutional capabilities. 

The programme aimed to equip the faculty members, and administrative staff at NCU with the knowledge and tools necessary to integrate technology and blended learning into higher education effectively. Apart from sensitising them on NEP 2020, Open Educational Resources (OER), the Graduate Employability Framework, it also included a comprehensive session on the Institutional Blended Learning Policy (IBLP) template created by COL-CEMCA, and its implementation strategies. The FDP was attended by more than 50 educators and staff from NCU. Adopting a participatory approach with group discussions and interactive activities, the programme also included baseline and feedback surveys to assess its impact on participants.   

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Bridging Education and Employment: The Graduate Employability (GE) Project Launched in India

The Commonwealth of Learning's (COL) regional centre in Asia, the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (COL-CEMCA) partnered with Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University (MPBOU) to host a pivotal workshop on integrating graduate employability into higher education from 10 to 12 December 2024 at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Led by experts from COL and COL-CEMCA, this event marked a significant step in bridging the gap between academic pursuits and the ever-evolving job market demands. The project aligns with the focus on employability embedded in the Ahmedabad Declaration (https://www.col.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Ahmedabad-Declaration-FINAL.pdf), which was adopted by all the open universities (OUs) in India.

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