About the 3rd Annual CANQATE Conference
The third annual CANQATE Conference is being hosted by the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development, Youth and Sports, St. Lucia and will be held November 21 – 23, 2006 at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa and Beach Resort. The theme for the conference is “Strengthening Tertiary Education in Response to Global Integration Trends”. A pre-conference workshop will be held on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 on “Credential Fraud and Forgery”.
The Strands for the Conference theme are:
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Regional and International Standards in Tertiary Education
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Quality Assurance and Accreditation
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Qualifications & Equivalency
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Distance & Trans-national Education
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Economic Imperatives for Tertiary Education
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Instructional & Assessment Issues
Prospective presenters are being invited to submit a 250 word abstract in Word format together with a two page explanation of the topic, identifying the strand selected. Submissions should include the title of the paper along with the names, affiliations, and complete mailing addresses of all authors as well as e-mail, fax and phone number(s). The deadline for submission of the abstract with explanation is June 30, 2006 to Ms. Elizabeth Bailey, ebailey@education.gov.lc or Ms. Myrle Emmanuel, memannuel@education.gov.lc.
Report on the 2nd Annual CANQATE Conference
The 2nd Annual CANQATE Conference was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain, Trinidad, from November 28 – 30, 2005. The Conference was hosted by the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education. The theme for the Conference was “Quality Tertiary Education in Single Market Economies: Challenges and Benefits”. A Pre-Conference Workshop was held on November 28, 2005.
Papers related to the Conference theme were invited and presented on the topics below and other related topics:
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Regional Standards in Tertiary Education -- Reciprocity of recognition; Regional articulation; Regional accreditation
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International Accreditation -- Partnering with international bodies; Recognition of international bodies
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Internal Quality Systems -- Total Quality Management; Self-assessment; Student and peer evaluations
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Quality Assurance -- Distance education and e-learning; Offshore delivery sites; Course delivery
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Teacher Training
Report on the Inaugural Canqate Conference
A successful CANQATE Inaugural Conference was held in Runaway Bay, Jamaica from November 2-4, 2004, in collaboration with the University Council of Jamaica. The theme of the Conference “Assuring the Quality of Tertiary Education to meet Global Challenges and Requirements” was timely, given the importance of quality assurance in the global tertiary landscape. Sub-themes for the Conference were:
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Quality Assurance Issues in the Regional Tertiary Environment
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Brokering Quality Tertiary Partnerships for National and Regional Development
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Assuring Quality in Multimedia, On-line and Distributed Learning
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Rrecognizing National Realities in an International Educational Landscape.
Thirty-three papers addressing the sub-themes were presented.
Approximately 150 participants including policy and decision makers, educators and professionals from some 13 countries including the Caribbean, North America and the United Kingdom attended the event
The aims of the Conference were to:
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Create a greater awareness and understanding of the importance of quality assurance in the region; and
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To promote good quality assurance practice in the region;
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To share information about current issues and practice in quality assurance.
Keynote speaker, Mr. Richard Lewis, President of INQAAHE in his keynote address gave a brief history of external quality assurance, the work of INQAAHE in the field of QA and the development of regional QA groupings. Other topics presented included: “Brokering quality partnerships for national and regional development”, “Assuring quality in multi-media, on-line and distributed learning” and “A process for assuring quality in transnational education”. Participants have indicated that the conference has been resourceful and informative, not only in terms of the material presented but also in terms of the collegiality which has been fostered.