<p><font color="#33711E"><strong>Day 3 - Session 5D: Contribution of Universities to Social Development</strong></font></p>

Queen's Park 6, 08:30 - 10:00

08:30 - 08:50

5.D.1. The Role of Universities in Adult Continuing Education: The Indian Context

Kameshwar Prasad Singh and Preetam Kumar

Ranchi University, India

Continuing Education plays a very significant role in literacy and post-literacy programmes in India. According to the National Literacy Mission the main objectives of the continuing education scheme are: provision of facilities for retention of literacy; provision of skills to enable the learners to continue to learn beyond basic literacy; creating scope for application of functional literacy for improvement of living conditions and equality of life; and creation of awareness about national concerns. This paper is a multi-dimensional study of the role of Adult Continuing Education and Extention (ACEE) in Indian Universities. The paper discusses a number of areas, including: the growth and evolution of ACEE in Indian Universities; the challenges and bottlenecks in the present working system of ACEE Departments in Indian Universities; and the role of ACEE in participatory and sustainable development. The paper also seeks to identify ways and measures to establish liaison of ACEE with UNESCO literacy programmes and discusses the role of the University Grants Commission of India in the administrative structure of ACEE departments in Indian universities.

08:50 - 09:10
5.D.2. University-Community Partnership for Local Development: A Case Study of a Japanese Higher Education Development Project in Viet Nam

Kiyohiko Kuroda
Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan
Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan

In Japan, it is commonly understood that universities need to proactively interact with external partners such as the community, industry, and local authorities. This stems from the policy view that universities, especially national universities dependent on public funds, are not only for students and scholars, but have to be accountable to the community and contribute to society as a whole. This also stems from the recognition by universities of the necessity of responding to changing learning needs as we move towards becoming knowledge societies. At the institutional level, this adds the "the third role" to a university's functions, the role of "Social Service" or "Contribution by the university to society". This paper presents some of the activities undertaken by Japanese universities to build university-society linkages and university-community linkages. The paper reviews the policy orientation on university-community linkages in Japan and some practices at the institutional level, and also studies the applications of the Japanese overseas development assistance funds to draw some lessons regarding the role of higher education in regional/local development.

Download the paper (pdf, 80kb) and presentation (pdf, 900kb)

09:10 - 09:30
5.D.3. Risk Perception and Sustainable Development in Thailand
Siriwan Anantho
Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand

This paper reports on the results of a research project which was conducted by Sokhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) in 2006, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. The research project, "The Definition of a Safe Society in the Thai Social Context: Towards Social Development and Human Security", aimed to examine the perceptions of Thai people towards social risk (during Thaksin Shinawatra's modernization period) and to develop a definition of a "safe society" in the Thai context. The research project conducted interviews with 312 people living in four rural regions. Results indicate that the perception of a risk society among Thai people varies according to their socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, with distinct differences between the four sample groups. The top ten social risks identified were those associated with: health, economics, food, education, family, crime, housing, employment, moral, media and technology. The results indicate that most risks were classified as manufactured risks and that the media usually play an important role in risk communication and the formation of public views. The researchers concluded that Thai people perceived a "safe society" as "a society in which its members can live their daily lives without fear of lack or instability in terms of food, security, family, housing, communities, and environment". In such a society, people were provided equal opportunity in terms of access to health and education services. They had secure employment and adequate income in order to live their lives on the "sufficiency economy" concept. The people were offered media literacy and protected equally, with legal and political rights. Members of society strive to uphold strong values and recognize the centrality of freedom of religion and a strong love for the monarchy.