Mauritius College of the Air
SAIDE

Context:
While collecting information for this global distance education network, SAIDE held several interviews with organisations in Southern African countries. Impressions of each country were generated to give some introduction to distance education and technology use in the area. Each interview has also been written up separately as a case study.

Source:
SAIDE country visits conducted in 1999

Copyright:
Permission granted

Country: Mauritius
Contact Person: Mrs Meena Seetulsingh
E-mail: meena@bow.intnet.mu
Fax: (230)464 8854
Postal Address: Mauritius College of the Air, Reduit, Mauritius
Date: 29^th June 1999

Description

Mauritius College of the Air is a para-statal body under the Ministry of Education and Scientific research. It was set up by Act no. 16 of 1985 to promote education, arts, science and culture generally through mass media and distance education methods. It is administered by a Board consisting of nine members and it has an Advisory Council which advises the Board on any matter falling within the purview of the College. It aims to provide equity in education, to support teaching and learning and to improve access.

The Mauritius College of the Air is involved in the following activities:

• The production of educational audio and video programmes for formal and non-formal programmes as well as the design and printing of support materials for such programmes.
• The provision of advisory and consultancy services on audio-visual production techniques.
• Workshops are regularly organized to: assess the impact of radio and television programmes on educators island-wide; provide training on the use of audio-visual equipment in class; ensure creative integration of audio-visual materials in class.
• The National Resource Centre (NRC) runs an audio-visual library and sales service for all Primary and Secondary Schools in Mauritius. The objectives of the NRC are to: provide educational audio-visual materials to schools and other educational organizations; to be a resource centre for distance education; to disseminate the productions of MCA; to serve the information needs of the staff of MCA; toa act as archives for the productions of MCA.
• The Division of Distance Education was set up in 1994 to: develop institutional capacity for delivery of distance education programmes; offer adult and continuing education using distance education methodology; cater for the needs of those willing to gain access to education after having left the conventional system.
• The Model Study was set up in 1995 to cater for the needs of Distance Learners. Facilities available are: meeting room for students and for face to face sessions; study room; reference books; computer equipment with CD Rom and internet access; photocopying services; TV/ Video/Audio equipment.

Quality Assurance

The Division of Distance Education uses the following mechanisms for quality assurance. In the design and development of courses the course team approach, peer review, independent review by specialists and final editing serve as the quality assurance mechanisms.

The production and delivery of courses is constantly monitored and reviewed and systems updated where necessary.

Enabling and Hindering Factors

The success of the Division of Distance Education programmes is enabled by the solid administrative and learner support systems as well as the recognition of the important role human media has in distance education.

The success of the programmes is hindered by the fact that courses are developed and offered on a cost-recovery basis which makes it unaffordable for some prospective learners.