Twelve applications were received for this pilot project to explore the regulatory frameworks for distance education. ICDE had determined a need to identify and draw attention to rules and regulations that hinder development, arguing that the social relevance of distance education, as well as security, quality and equity of access are closely linked to the application of sound regulatory systems.

In order to avoid the potential for conflicts of interest, the ICDE Executive asked ICDE's Board of Trustees to form an independent panel of experts to assess the proposals. Their recommendations were reported to, and endorsed by, the ICDE Executive at the Executive Committee meeting held on 15 September.

The panel noted that the winning consortium have a strong research group with all necessary expertise, and a sufficient critical mass of competent people, as well as local and national associates. The network spans across academia to include researchers, universities, agencies and organizations.

The pilot will assess the Asia/ Pacific region, including key members of the ASEAN and the Pacific Island Forum nations. This region will provide a pilot study area that is sufficiently diverse to offer opportunities for comparison. It includes large and small scale nations with differing operational contexts, advantages, challenges and constraints, thus providing a good basis for a generative framework, useful also in other regions.

 The objectives of the wider project are ultimately:

• To identify the main regulatory frameworks that apply to distance and online education in different regions of the world
• To identify similarities and differences, both within each region, and also across regions
• To gather the existing laws, norms and rules related to distance and online education in a database
• To identify good practices in terms of the regulation of distance and online education

This pilot project, which will run during the last quarter of 2010 and first quarter of 2011, is the first of a series of opportunities for ICDE's members and associates to take the lead in high profile research initiatives which will benefit the open and distance education community worldwide. The project is a key activity under ICDE's strategic objective to be the global arena for the discussion of distance education policies.

Links:

• International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE)
• Australasian Council on Open, Distance and E-Learning (ACODE)
• Distance Education Hub (DEHub)
• Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA)

28 September 2010