Education Conference Marks AKU-IED's 10th Anniversary

Governments and Organizations Seek AKU-IED's help in Developing Education Systems

"We at AKU must aspire to attain greatness through the creation of knowledge and that is one of the most important messages that I would like to leave with you." This was stated by Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, President of AKU and the Chief Guest at an international conference on education that marked the 10th anniversary of Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) in August 2003. The three-day conference titled `Impact: Making a Difference' provided a forum for the Institute, its partners and Professional Development Teachers (PDTs) to share their reflections and findings of impact studies on school improvement initiatives, and to deliberate on possible future strategic directions for AKU-IED's partnership with school systems.

AKU-IED students and senior leadership of the University at the 10th anniversary of the Institute in August 2003.

Kassim-Lakha, recounting the early days of the University, highlighted its commitment to research-based quality education. Emphasizing the role of Professional Development Teachers, he said, "Your impact is going to be much bigger, do not think that you are just a teacher, do not think that you are just an educator, you are an educator of society, not just of school children or college students."

Classroom discussions and question-and-answer sessions during the education conference at AKU-IED.

A noteworthy point emanating from the three days of deliberations was that PDTs felt that their newly acquired methods of teaching has left a considerable impact on the education systems of their respective countries. "This is because PDTs are planning better lessons, giving more open-ended and challenging tasks to students, and using different and more appropriate teaching strategies," added the AKU President. He said this had, in turn, led many governments and organizations to seek AKU-IED's help in developing their education systems. Even in Pakistan, President Kassim-Lakha noted, the University's impact on government policies regarding education had been significant. He stressed the need for multiple IED's, and said discussions were under way for the establishment of another IED in East Africa.

The conference invited prominent educationists and academicians, including Dr Stephen Anderson from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, who gave his keynote address on `In Search of Impact: Teacher Development for School Improvement'. Prof Mark Bray, Dean and Chair, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, discoursed on `Making a Difference in Education through Community Participation'. The participants included Ambassador Saidullah Khan Dehlavi, Chairman of AKU Board of Trustees; Dr David Taylor, Acting Provost of AKU; prominent educationists and academicians from Pakistan, as well as 109 Professional Development Teachers (PDTs) from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Central Asia and East Africa.

In his welcome address, Dr Gordon MacLeod, Director of AKU-IED, praised the role of the former directors, faculty, staff and graduates of AKU-IED for the development of the Institute in a short span of 10 years. He said the Institute had produced more than 200 graduates from the Advanced Diploma programmes; almost 400 graduates from the Certificate Programme in Educational Leadership and Management; and almost 2,500 people, the bulk of them in Pakistan, have completed Certificate programmes in classroom teaching of curriculum areas. Elaborating on the successful research activities of AKU-IED, he said the extensive research activities had been institutionalised in a major research and policy studies initiative. "We have recently completed a highly successful series of policy dialogue workshops and we hope that these have laid the foundation for the future possible development of a Centre of Excellence in Policy Studies in Education. Other Centres of Excellence might emerge in Educational Leadership and Management and in some aspect of Teacher Education." AKU-IED aspires to achieve the highest level of quality in research activities. "This means not only the academic excellence guaranteed by international publication in the most prestigious of research journals, but it also means guaranteeing and assuring quality in the classroom and practicality for teachers, in that kind of research and scholarly activity," concluded Dr. MacLeod.

For more information on AKU-IED please visit: http://www.aku.edu/ied/