Vietnam has been selected to host the 2010 Annual OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC) Global Meeting, which is scheduled for May 5-7, 2010.
The event will be co-organised by the OCWC, the US’s Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), the OCWC said on its website.
A Vietnam OpenCourseWare (OCW) has been developed in Vietnam with the support of the VEF, MOET, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Vietnam Advanced Software Company (VASC) after the historical visit of former Prime Minister Phan Van Khai to the US in 2005.
“The 2010 Annual OCWC Global Meeting will facilitate the participation of Vietnamese faculties and students in accessing this online repository of knowledge and in understanding the emerging OCW movement in the world,” said Dr. Stephen Maxner, Chairman of the VEF Board of Directors.
The OCWC President, Steve Carson, said that with its innovative government run programme, Vietnam has quickly become a significant contributor to the OCW movement.
“Choosing Hanoi as a venue for the conference in part recognises that contribution and sets a framework for discussion of sustainable institutional models for OCW development and dissemination,” Steve said.
OCW was introduced in 2002 by MIT, which has since then given Internet users worldwide free access to this programme posted on its website.
The OCWC currently collaborates with more than 250 higher education institutions and associated organisations around the world to create a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model to further advance education and empower people worldwide through OCW.
VOVNews/VNA