11 Jul 2016

 Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL) is celebrating the election of its executive director, Dr Daniel Tau as chairperson of Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) for the period June 2016 to May 2019.

According to the press release from BOCODOL,  the election took place at the VUSSC Management Committee Planning Meeting in in Malaysia June 20-24.

The release states that Dr Tau is expected to lead VUSSC Management Committee made up of VUSSC Interlocutors (coordinators) from the Pacific/Asia, Africa/Mediterranean and

Caribbean Regions of the Commonwealth in steering operations of VUSSC, which revolve around the development of Tertiary ODL Programmes and quality assurance of the same through the Commonwealth’s Trans-National Qualifications Framework.

It further explains that, VUSSC is a network of 32 small states of the Commonwealth that are collaborating in the development of tertiary programmes using ODL methodologies including the integration of information technology. 

It goes further to state that the network was initiated by Commonwealth education ministers, adding that the collaborative approach enables small states to fully exploit their collective

intelligence, leverage and harmonise their ODL skills, reducing the burden that the states would individually bear in their drive to develop tertiary education systems. 

In the end, the release purports that VUSSC absorbs programmes development costs, which translate into reduced fees paid by learners.

Dr Tau’s election into the chairpersonship of VUSSC is testimony of BOCODOL’s and Botswana’s contribution to the growth of the educational landscape regionally and globally. ENDS