Top African
policy makers in education, as well as vice-chancellors from countries all over
Africa, will be attending the inaugural annual conference of the African Council
for Distance Education, to be hosted by the University of South Africa from 9 to
12 August. South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to deliver the
opening address at the three-day conference under the theme: ?Mobilisation of
African Leadership: Policies, Strategies and Partnerships?. The President of the
African Union, Dr Alpha Oumar Konare, will also deliver an address at the
opening. International leaders in education will be chairing sessions and
delivering addresses. These include Koichura Matsuura, director general of
Unesco, Sir John Daniel, president of the Commonwealth of Learning, Prof Nyameko
Barney Pityana, chairperson of the ACDE and Vice-Chancellor of the University of
South Africa, the Minister of Education of South Africa, ministers of education
of several African countries and the secretary general of the Association of
African Universities. There will be panel presentations on the following
subjects: HIV/Aids Governance and civil society Teacher education, training and
human resource development Capacity building for open and distance education
Economic development and entrepreneurship Mobilisation of African leadership
Delegates will be representing all regions of the African continent, from east
to west and south to north.