WFACP Board Minutes:

 23^rd, 24^th February 2004
ITPNZ Offices, Wellington, New Zealand

Present:

Dr George Boggs, American Association of Community Colleges (Secretary)

Dr John Brennan, Association of Colleges (UK)

Gerry Brown, Association of Canadian Community Colleges (Chair)

Jim Doyle, Association of Polytechnics in New Zealand (Deputy Chair)

Prof. Piero Formica, Higher Colleges of Technology (United Arab Emirates)

Jenny Williams, Commonwealth of Learning, representing the Pacific Association of TVET Providers

Apologies:

Leon Beech, Association of Further Education and Training Institutions of South Africa

Dr Tayeb Kamali, Higher Colleges of Technology (United Arab Emirates)

Perive Lene, Pacific Association of TVET Providers

Barry Peddle, TAFE Directors Australia

William Rwambulla, Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa

Frans Schneider, European Forum of Technical & Vocational Education & Training (Treasurer)

In attendance:  

Rita Dobson, Association of Colleges (AoC) (Secretariat)

1.       Welcome and apologies

1.1                Gerry Brown welcomed Board members to the meeting and thanked Jim Doyle for hosting this meeting of the World Federation Board.

1.2               He welcomed Jenny Williams, who was representing the Pacific Association of TVET Providers.  He also welcomed Professor Piero Formica who was representing Dr Tayeb Kamali and who would be presenting an update on the planning of the 3^rd World Congress.

1.3               Jim Doyle announced that although Dr Kamali was not able to attend the meeting personally, a video-conference link-up was being arranged with him on the afternoon of 23^rd February so that any Board recommendations/agreements about the 3^rd World Congress could be conveyed to him in person.

2.       Approval of minutes of 28^th and 29^th May 2003

2.1       The minutes of the World Federation Board meeting held in Vancouver on 28^th and 29^th May 2004 were formally approved as an accurate record and were signed by the Chair.

3.       Matters arising

3.1       It was agreed that any matters arising from the previous Board meeting would be covered by this meeting’s agenda.

4.     3^rd World Congress

4.1            Professor Piero Formica reported that he had been given the task by Dr Tayeb Kamali of putting together the programme for the 3^rd World Congress and that, although he would be focussing mainly on this topic, he welcomed any suggestions by the Board on the other details of the Congress.  He presented his paper outlining the Congress theme and programme, potential speakers and workshop themes.

4.2              The Board agreed with Prof. Formica’s suggestion that the Congress venue be moved to Dubai instead of Abu Dhabi.

4.3              Members debated the suitability of dates for the Congress to be held at the end of February or beginning of March 2005.

4.4       Board members expressed concern that the main theme (‘Entrepreneurship’), coupled with the emphasis on higher education and keynote speakers from an academic background, would not attract sufficient delegates from the world of vocational education and training.  They agreed to change the wording of the Congress theme.  Board members agreed that HCT should aim at securing at least 4 but ideally 6 well-respected keynote speakers for the Congress who come from a mix of gender, ethnicity and geographical region.  They also agreed that one keynote speaker could address the Congress gala dinner instead of making a keynote presentation during the working hours of the Congress.  Prof. Formica requested that Gerry Brown help draft a standard letter of invitation which to be sent to all potential keynote speakers by HCT.  Prof. Formica agreed to advise the WFACP Board of any confirmed keynote speakers by the beginning of May 2004.

4.5       It was agreed that:

·                     The theme of the Congress would read “Riding the Wave – Educating for Employability in a Turbulent World”

·                     The Congress would have the following six sub-themes; Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Skills and Innovation, Partnerships, Economic Development, Diversity

·                     Each sub-theme to be divided into the following workshop themes:

Entrepreneurship:                  Achieving the entrepreneurial college

                                                                        Students

                                                                        Building an entrepreneurial community

                                                                        International start-ups

                                                                        Policy setting

                                                                        Entrepreneurship centres – case studies

Leadership:                             Governance

                                                                        Management

                                                                        Team-building

                                                                        Strategic planning

                                                                        Rural/remote

Skills and Innovation:           Curriculum change

                                                            Research

                                                                        E-learning

                                                                        Knowledge dissemination

                                                                        Open learning

                                                                        Global mobility

Partnerships:                         With business/industry

                                                            Between institutions

                                                                        International

                                                                        North/South

Economic Development:        Regional developments

                                                                        Regeneration

Diversity:                               Cultural/ethnicity

                                                                        Indigenous issues

4.6            Members agreed to provide Prof. Formica with the names of 2 or 3 potential speakers for each of the agreed sub-themes by Wednesday 31^st March 2004.

4.7            Members agreed to provide Dr Formica, by Friday 12^th March, with the name of 1 person from their own organisation who would be willing to act as a member of a judging panel who will judge presentations/papers submitted by delegates.  Prof. Formica to forward to Board members the criteria required for panel judges.

4.8       Board members agreed to issue a call for presentations at the beginning of April.  In order to do this, the following information was required by HCT (venue, dates, draft of publicity brochure which will include a programme outline, any identified speakers, the aims of the Congress and information to promote Dubai).  Board members estimated that the following numbers of delegates would be attracted to the Congress from the different regions:

            Middle East                           20 delegates

            United Arab Emirates          50 delegates

            USA                                        60 delegates

            Canada                                   40 delegates

            United Kingdom                     50 delegates

            Africa                                     20 delegates

            Europe                                     20 delegates

            Asia                                         20 delegates

            Australia/NZ                         40 delegates

            South America                       10 delegates

            TOTAL                                  330 delegates

4.9       In relation to publicity of the Congress, the following actions were agreed:

·                     Prof. Formica agreed to have ready, by the beginning of May, a publicity brochure in glossy format, for Board members to issue to potential delegates. 

·                     Prof. Formica agreed to establish a website dedicated to the Congress and to forward to Board members the website address.  Board members agreed to provide Prof. Formica with logos and website addresses of their own institutions for a website link.

·                     Prof. Formica agreed to produce by April 2004 some descriptive wording (together with the presentation judging panel) for each of the sub-themes to be used in the first call for presentations and any further publicity material.

4.10            Members agreed that the delegate registration fee for the Congress should ideally be in the region of USD$800-900 and that the capitation fee to World Federation should be USD$35.00 per delegate.

4.11      Board members agreed to forward to Prof. Formica the names and contact information of potential sponsors.

4.12     In relation to exhibition space required, Gerry Brown agreed to advise Prof. Formica on the amount of floor space used at the 1^st Congress in Quebec, Canada in May 1999 to be used as a guide for the 3^rd Congress.

4.13     The Secretariat agreed to send to Dr Tayeb Kamali and Prof. Formica the final budget from the 2^nd World Congress which took place in Melbourne, Australia in 2002.

4.14     Prof. Formica was informed that the World Federation would need to have its own exhibition space for registration of new members etc. and would also require use of 1 room throughout the Congress for Board meetings and other World Federation business.  Prof. Formica also noted that the World Federation would need to hold a general meeting of members before the start of the Congress and that a suitable room should be allocated for this purpose.

4.15     The Board agreed to meet again via telephone conference call in April 2004 with Dr Tayeb Kamali and Prof. Formica in order to receive an update on planning for the 3^rd Congress following this meeting.  Board members agreed to provide the Secretariat with their availability for the weeks of Monday 12^th April and 19^th April.

4.16     Board members then met with Dr Tayeb Kamali via video-conference link.  He apologised for not being able to attend the meeting in person but expressed his excitement about the Congress being hosted in the United Arab Emirates.  The Chair reported that the meeting with Prof. Formica had been extremely useful.  He then made reference to a paper (outlining agreements made about the Congress programme, theme and sub-themes) produced during the meeting with Prof. Formica, which had been emailed to Dr Kamali in advance of this video-conference.

The following points were made:

·                     Dr Kamali was concerned that technology had not been specifically mentioned in the sub-themes

·                     Dr Kamali estimated that the region would attract approximately 200-250 delegates

            The following actions were agreed:

·                     Change the words “in a Turbulent World” to “in Turbulent Times” in the main Congress title

·                     The ‘Leadership’ sub-theme to appear higher on the list in any publicity material

·                     Dr Kamali would as soon as possible following receipt of suitable dates for the Congress from the Board, confirm the Congress date to Board members

·                     All communication relating to the Congress to be addressed to Dr Kamali and Prof. Formica and copied to Dr Kamali’s secretary Anne Martin.

5.     Action Plan for New Vision of the World Federation

5.1       The Chair reminded members that they had agreed with the need to expand the Federation to include membership of individual institutions.  Members acknowledged the need to move forward with this idea quickly and agreed that the new Federation should be formally launched during the 3^rd World Congress in Dubai in 2005.  Members also acknowledged that the current Constitution would need to be formally amended at the Federation’s general meeting of members just prior to the start of the 3^rd World Congress to reflect the make-up of the new Federation.

5.2            Members agreed that the main considerations for this discussion would be a) the benefits of joining this new Federation and b) the management and administration of said Federation.

5.3            Members agreed that the Federation would charge institutions a membership fee to join the Federation and then add an additional charge for individuals in those institutions to participate in network groups.  The Federation would allow for associate membership but the benefits of this and the membership fee for associate members was still to be agreed.

5.4            Members agreed that the Federation would need to employ an ex-officio permanent Project Director and administrator to carry out the day to day operations of the Federation.  Members agreed that, rather than relying on membership fees, it would be sensible to approach each Board member’s own Government body to try and obtain some pump-priming for these posts.  Members estimated that they might be able to obtain approximately USD $100,000 through Government body contributions. 

5.5              It was agreed that the Federation’s priorities in achieving this new vision were:

i)                   development of a paper outlining the future direction of the Federation and new Constitution (achieved in 2004)

ii)                 membership drive and Government funding (achieved in 2004/2005)

iii)               human resources/office location (achieved in 2005)

iv)               development of project work and planning for 4^th Congress in 2007 (achieved in 2005/2006)

5.6       The Chair agreed to draft a paper outlining the future direction of the Federation and circulate to Board members for comment.  This will be used in both the membership recruitment and the application to Governments for funding as a strong supporting statement.  It was agreed that each Board member should approach their own Government body as they felt was appropriate.  He suggested that ACCC’s Marketing Director would be able condense the paper on the future direction of the Federation to a short mission statement for use in all World Federation publicity material.

5.7            Members discussed the recruitment of new members (individual institutions) and it was noted that the Federation could not formally recruit institutions until the Constitution is formally amended at the next general meeting of members in Dubai in 2005.  Members debated 2 options:

a)     To request any potential members (individual institutions) to make a commitment to full membership after the Constitution is formally amended during the 3^rd World Congress, when they will be asked for their subscription fee

b)     Call a special general meeting of members (done via telephone conference call in July 2004) in order to approve the necessary changes to the Constitution to reflect the membership of individual institutions.  The notice of a special general meeting of members would need to be made 3 months in advance (April 2004)

Members agreed to discuss this again during their April 2004 conference call.

5.8       It was agreed that the name of the Federation will change to “World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics”.

6.       Proposed Revision of WFACP Constitution

6.1            Members agreed that most discussions around required amendments to the Constitution had been covered in item 5 above.

6.2       It was agreed that associations of colleges and polytechnics will be entitled to remain in membership (wording of a new Constitution to reflect this). 

6.3       It was agreed that the employment of a Project Director and other staff would need to be added to the Constitution.

6.4       Jim Doyle agreed to do some further work on a new Constitution.

7.        Legalisation of the World Federation

7.1       The Board agreed that no further action should be taken on this until the Federation had obtained a significant amount of funding and a Project Director had been appointed.

8.        WFACP Finances

8.1       It was agreed that members who had not yet paid their subscriptions for 2003 and 2004 should be reminded to do so, by the Treasurer, before September 2004.

8.2            Members agreed to suspend the previous Board meeting’s decision to move the WFACP bank account from the Association of Colleges in the UK to EfVET in Belgium.

8.3            Members raised a query about Value Added Tax (a charge made on all invoices in the UK) which had appeared on the AoC’s invoice approved at the last Board meeting and which added a significant amount to the invoice.  John Brennan agreed to raise this with the AoC’s Finance Director and report back to the Board.  The Secretariat then explained that, although the bank account currently held USD $22,000, there were still insufficient funds in the World Federation’s bank account to fully reimburse the Association of Colleges for the invoiced amount.  Rather than wait for members to pay their 2003 and 2004 subscriptions, the Board agreed to pay the AoC an initial amount of USD $12,000 (leaving a float of USD $10,000 in the bank account) and then to pay the remainder as soon as all the subscription fees for 2003 and 2004 had been collected.

8.4       The Board requested that the Secretariat function be maintained by the Association of Colleges until the 3^rd World Congress in Dubai in 2005.  As Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, Dr John Brennan agreed to this. 

8.5       Dr George Boggs reminded members that he had agreed to take on the role of Secretary only until February 2004 and requested that another Board member now be asked to take on this role.  Members agreed to ask Dr John Brennan to take on the role of Secretary until the next Board elections.  Dr Brennan agreed to this.

10.        WFACP Website

10.1      The Secretariat explained that she had encountered extreme difficulties in maintaining the upkeep of the WFACP website as there was no dedicated person to conduct the technical side of this task. 

10.2     Jim Doyle offered to use his own contact at ITPNZ to provide the World Federation with a new website design and content to reflect recent decisions about Federation membership.  The Board agreed with this course of action.

11.   Any Other Business

11.1      The Board discussed the 4^th World Congress to take place in 2007.  Members agreed that the South African association should be invited to re-submit a bid to host the Congress.  The Chair agreed to discuss this with Leon Beech.  Should the South Africa association not feel in a position to host it, members agreed that the event should be held in Europe, possibly hosted by the Association of Colleges (UK).

12.   Date of Next Meeting

12.1      The Board agreed to convene a telephone conference call in April 2004 and members agreed to forward to the Secretariat their available dates for a call.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS FROM BOARD MEETING HELD ON 23^RD AND 24^TH FEBRUARY 2004 IN WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND