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Virtual University for Small States of the CommonwealthFrom Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education
The Commonwealth Education Ministers conceived the idea of the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) at their meeting in Halifax, Canada, in 2000. The Commonwealth of Learning extended a formal invitation to the Education Ministers of the small states to participate in this initiative aimed at expanding access to education enabled by appropriate ICTs. VUSSC member countries met in Singapore on two occasions signing a Letter of Intent as well as the Singapore Statement. The VUSSC is a network committed to the collaborative development of free content resources for education. Thirty countries are now actively engaged in making the VUSSC a reality. VUSSC countries have chosen to focus on creating postsecondary, skills-related courses in areas such as tourism, entrepreneurship, professional development, disaster management and a range of technical and vocational subjects. These non-proprietary, electronically-held course materials, which can readily be adapted to the specific context of each country, are used in the offering of credit-bearing qualifications in the countries' post-secondary institutions, strengthening their educational capacity and outreach. Small states thus become active contributors to global development and leaders in educational reform through the innovative use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). The VUSSC is throwing a wide bridge across the digital divide. A milestone in the development of the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth took place in early June 2009, with the launch of a dedicated VUSSC website at http://www.vussc.info/
Participating countries
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