Distance Education Policy and Public Awareness in Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam

Abstract

The current project brings together academic and governmental specialists from Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam (CLV), in a collaborative study of the prospects for distance education (DE) in those countries. The study’s overall objectives are to:

1. survey and take stock of existing educational scenarios and problems in CLV;

2. document the policies and research relating to DE practices in CLV and beyond;

3. discuss these policies and practices with national core groups, policy and decision makers;

4. initiate strategies for networked collaboration among CLV’s educational institutions;

5. build DE capacity by “training the trainers” in a variety of distance teaching and learning skills; and

6. formulate recommendations for the development of detailed DE initiatives in the three nations.

   This article reports on the early stages of this project: the implementation of a stakeholder survey in the three countries, and a study of existing policies and practices. The project is funded in 2005–2008 by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), whose PANdora model provides a collaborative basis to assist the teams in developing a common research strategy and in avoiding duplication of effort.

Acknowledgements

The project reported in this article was conducted with financial support from the Pan Asia Networking (PAN) Program Initiative of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), under a grant to the Virtual University of Pakistan for the project “PANdora: Distance and Open Resource Access.”