1. IAU Durban Conference, August 20-25, 2000
11th General Conference: Universities as Gateway to the Future
Plenary Panel II
Professor Atsuo Liyoshi,
Chubu University, Japan.
In this presentation, I shall confine myself to the major points which appeared to those participating in
the Working Groups on Information and Communication Technologies.
One of the central issues which, if unspoken, is in everyone's mind is "Do the so called Virtual
Universities pose a threat to the types of University already in place?" Our reply to this was, they do
not. But there are conditions attached to this view. If established universities themselves both develop
and employ Information Technologies in their teaching, if they incorporate elements of virtuality in
some of their courses, the threat may be blunted. Indeed, some established universities already have
virtual courses on offer, particularly in the areas of continuing and further education.
Universities are not simply establishments of learning and research. They have a very real social
dimension. This social dimension underpins teaching and research. In the University, students meet
teaching staff. Students have access to services and facilities, to social circles and to social events.
This conviviality, as the Spanish sociologist Manual Castells has pointed out, is a central feature of the
University and of learning. Like the IAU itself, the immense strength of the university, in contrast to
virtual learning networks, lies precisely in the many opportunities the University allows for working
physically and affectively together as individuals, as groups or teams. Universities should pay more
attention to creating conviviality. In this way, both students and staff may identify with them and
value the time they spend there.
But what of the good practice which is necessary for successfully bringing Information and
Communications Technology into teaching? Here too there are a number of prior conditions. One of
them is staff training in teaching techniques as a way of moving academic staff on from the more
traditional views on teaching and learning.
Information and Communications Technology speeds up higher education's shift as a system of
teaching from a system of learning. It places particular weight on the ways of learning how to learn.
This has major implications for the function of academic staff. They too must move from being
teachers to becoming tutors, guides and mentors.
Changes are also evident for the seminar room and lecture theatre. The New Technologies open up
group communication rather than preserving the traditional one way communication from teacher to
taught. The educational implications are immense. So too are the changes in University architecture
and the design of the "learning space" to accommodate the massive possibilities which interactive
access to information demands.
Change extends to the timetable, to the times of access to learning facilities, and thus re-defines the
"learning day". From this it follows that the old idea of semesters and terms will also require
rethinking.
Many of these issues have first seen the light of day in the resource rich systems of higher education in
the North. There, the pressure is often no longer the same pressure of student numbers. Rather, the
pressure is to ensure sufficient students for the places available. The situation is very different in the
South. And for that reason, there is the possibility which cannot wholly be dismissed, that the
permeation of Information and Communication Technologies may add yet another element to the
factors that contribute to widening the 'development' gap between countries in the two hemispheres.
The possibility that Information and Communication Technologies might further accentuate the
disparities between rich nations and poor nations is perhaps a greater threat to social balance than it is
to the established systems of higher education.
Our colleagues from developing economies suggested help especially financial help - was needed for
them to develop Information and Communication Technologies. In addition, more partnerships should
be developed with Universities experienced in Information and Communication Technology
application. The IAU should, it was felt, provide such a facility. One proposal suggested developing

2. bi-lateral or tri-lateral links between Universities with extensive experience and knowledge of
Information Technologies.
Our Association should play its part in bringing this about.
Equally important, the world-wide dimension of Information and Communication Technologies, and
the implications it held for the dominance of North over South, should be the subject of our closest
vigilence.