The following is a report by Jennifer Glennie in her capacity as the 1997 President of NADEOSA.

Soon after its inception NADEOSA was honoured to be invited to participate in the Transformation Forum of the largest public distance education institution in the country, UNISA. UNISA, along with all other tertiary institutions in the country, has to devise ways to meet the enormous challenges before it. The Transformation Forum was established as a representative body to assist, and give some leadership to the institution in this daunting task. NADEOSA, along with NAFCOC, COSATU, the Pretoria Metropolitan Council, and five others, form the external stakeholder group on the Forum. I was afforded the opportunity of becoming NADEOSA's representative, little realizing what a time consuming and sometimes stressful activity it was to be. It has also been enormously rewarding.

As a NADEOSA representative it was clear that I should carry to the Forum NADEOSA's key purpose of "increasing access to an affordable, cost-effective and quality learning environment in which learners are empowered to become self sufficient members of society".

To this end I agreed to sit on both the Teaching and learning and Finance Commissions of the Forum. On account of a range of teething problems, these Commissions are only now beginning to show some progress. Some of what is proposed for the Commission to do may wee be of interest to other NADEOSA member organisations. If this is the case I will seek permission for circulation. I have already been given permission to disseminate the work done as background for future language policy at UNISA.

My other role at the Forum is as the most regular external stakeholder participant. Here I am often called upon to play non-NADEOSA type roles, such as chairing task groups set-up to draft resolutions, mediating between the staff and student positions, and working to offer an external stakeholder, and therefore sometimes more disinterested, perspective on a wide range of such as the relationship between Council and the UBTF, the future composition of Council etc. issues.

I believe that my contribution in both of the above regards have been favourably received. I have found it extremely useful to participate in the complex transformation process of such a large institution.

The UBTF recently held its most successful meeting to date, and is I believe well placed both structurally, and in terms of the good relationships developed within the Forum, to begin on its substantive tasks.

Various strands of governmental and non-governmental policy thinking converge on the potential of community learning centres (CLCs) to, among other functions, improve the access of learners to distance education provision, and at the same time to enhance the quality of such provision. Such thinking is driven consistently by the broader need to address imbalances and inequities created by apartheid policies. There is, however, a wide range of conceptualisations, which are characterised by significant tensions, in terms of the nature, structure and possible functions of CLCs. A research and planning project is therefore proposed, in order to lay a sound basis for the construction of a network of distance learner support facilities. The Executive Committee of NADEOSA will take responsibility for overseeing the project, for which NADEOSA members will be invited to tender.

Click on the icon to the right or the title aboe to view the full proposal. If you are interested in supporting or participating in this research, e-mail us at saide@icon.co.za.