The International Council for Open and Distance Education Standing Conference of Presidents 2014 (ICDE SCOP 2014)–the Presidents’Summit on Open Education Models was held in Indonesia from November 18th to 22nd. Vice President Li Ling of The Open University of China (OUC) attended the meeting and took part in discussions of related issues.

80 presidents and CEOs of open and distance learning (ODL) and blended learning institutions from around the world attended the meeting.The Director of the Student Work Department of the Indonesian Ministry for Higher Education Dr.Ir.Illah Sailah was also present and delivered a speech on behalf of the ministers. The attendees listened to keynote speeches and presentations and participated in panel discussions and group sessions, all centred around the theme “Leadership Challenges: Approaches Towards Successful Open Education Models”.

On Thursday 20 November, the ICDE - UNESCO Policy Forum took place where the higher leaders endorsed UNESCO's post-2015 Global Education Agenda and agreed that access to, and success in, open, online and flexible learning are key solutions to the pressing development challenges and needs of 21st century societies. The leaders also produced 20 specific actions for governments, institutions and faculty.Professor Asha Kanwar, President and CEO of The Commonwealth of Learning, UNESCO representative Marina Patru, Professor Alan Tait from The Open University, UK, Mansoor AI Awar, the President of Hamdan Bin Mohamed Digital University, Wayne Mackintosh from UNESCO and other principals gave their opinions at the Forum.

During the meeting, Li Ling met Tian Belawati, the President of Indonesian Terbuka University, the organizer of the meeting, and Gard Titlestad, the Secretary-General of ICDE. Representatives from France expressed their intention to cooperate with the OUC to develop online Chinese teaching resources.   

By Niu Ben