‘Courtesy Call’

 I met with Mr. Gilles Broussaud of ‘Université de Limoges’ and Mr. Serge Paronneau, ‘Responsable du champ des Management des Activités Tertaires , France’.The purpose of the visit was to identify areas of collaboration between Mauritius, ‘Université de Limoges’ and ‘IU Tenligne du Limousin’.

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb." Winston Churchill

‘I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. Happy mother’s day to u all, love u mum & dad……………..’

At opening of bookfair I asked "Who is currently reading a book". Answer "facebook.....” What are you reading?

‘Launching of Pearson’s Capacity Building: Transforming the Learning Experience ’

I launched the ‘Pearson’s Capacity Building: Transforming the Learning Experience’, held at the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre, Bel Village. I wish to thank and congratulate the Pearson’s group in Mauritius for this event.

‘Official Opening of the Editions Le Printemps Book Fair 2011’

I was at the official launching of the 2011 Book Fair organized by ‘Editions Le Printemps’ in presence of eminent personalities. The International Book Fair 2011 is a platform for stakeholders in the book and edition industries, and I hope teachers, students and the public in general will take the opportunity of this Fair to reach out and communicate with major players in the field. This initiative of the ‘Editions Le Printemps’, is also a good example of public/private partnerships in support in our educational system. As part of their social responsibility, other institutions should come up with similar initiatives, thereby illustrating the importance of dissemination of knowledge at all levels through a diversity of channels. I am confident that this 6^th Book Fair will have a wide publicity and will encourage students to read in an increasingly knowledge intensive, scientific and technological world of today. This event is also targeted towards the population at large, providing an exposure to more affordable reading materials in particular in areas of Science, Technology and Research. I urge you to seize this opportunity to learn more about the world of books and the electronic media in particular in areas of Science, Research and Technology. I wish the Book Fair 2011 all the success it deserves!

‘Launching of the MRC Research Grant Application Course’

I launched the ‘MRC Research Grant Application Course’, today at the Ebène Heights, Ebène. The Research Grant Application Course is yet another initiative that we are organizing in order to promote a research culture that we want to see established in our tertiary institutions. The main objective of this course is to impart participants the skills of proposal write-up for submission to local and international funding institutions and I am pleased to learn that this course which targets young academics and research students from a wide range of disciplines has already attracted a lot of interest.  The disciplines that we are covering include the life sciences, economics and finance, agriculture and environment, sustainable development and environmental modeling, engineering and ICTs. The onus rests with researchers/applicants to make use of the tools to achieve further academic excellence that hopefully will also have an impact on society. Perhaps as a first step I may even suggest our young bright Mauritian minds to make use of the current MRC research grant schemes to exercise their newly acquired skills.

‘Award of Certificate Ceremony’

 

 

I was at the ‘Award of Certificate Ceremony’, organised by NICE (National Institute for Co-operative Entrepreneurship’, held in my constituency at Petit Bois, Caroline.

‘Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.’ N.V.Peale

Launching of ‘Scholarly Communication African Programme (SCAP)’

I launched the ‘Scholarly Communication African Programme (SCAP)’, held at the Lecture Theatre of the University of Mauritius. I extend a special warm welcome to the SCAP team from South Africa. The Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme (SCAP) is a three-year, IDRC funded initiative aimed at increasing African Universities contribution to regional and global knowledge production. I am sure that this will be beneficial to scholarly communications at the University of Mauritius. It gives me pleasure to launch this project and trust that the Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme will be of great success.  I expect that the issues and concerns that may arise, along with the practical outcomes of the meetings and workshop, will prove to be illuminating and valuable.

‘Visit from the International Labour Office (ILO)’

 

I met with a delegation from the International Labour office (ILO), to discuss collaboration between the International Labour Office (ILO), Maastricht University and other international organizations, also the University of Mauritius on offering a Master of Science (MSc) in Social Protection Financing.

‘Courtesy Call’

I met with Mr. Nick Leake, British High Commissioner in Mauritius and Miss. Dawn Long, Director of British Council in my office.

‘During the Visit of Her Excellency Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of the Republic of India at MGI ’

 

Public Lecture on Open & Distance Learning on the Theme ‘Tertiary Education: How Open?’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was at the public lecture on open and distance learning on the theme , “Tertiary Education: How open ?” delivered by Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of the commonwealth of Learning, held at the conference hall, of the Cyber Tower 1, Ebène. We are indeed very lucky to have Sir John Daniel in our midst, as we are living exciting times in the tertiary sector. We have the intention of setting up an Open University very soon. We appreciate the contributions of the Commonwealth of Learning in assisting us in this endeavour.  A special thanks to their senior staff who have come over this year to guide us through the thinking process for the setting up of the Open University. The international platform provides us with a unique opportunity to learn from Sir John’s wide experience in the field of Open and distance education internationally. I thank again, Sir John to have come in and share his knowledge with us.

You are all invited to a public lecture on open and distance learning on the theme , “Tertiary Education: How open ?” delivered by Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of the commonwealth of Learning, to be held at the conference hall, of the Cyber Tower 1, Ebène at 1600 hrs.

‘Visit from FIFA Medical Assessment Research Centre’

 

I met with Professor Jiri Dvorak, Chairman of the FIFA Medical Assessment Research Centre and his Technical Team accompanied by Mr. D. Persunnoo, President of the Mauritius Football Association.