The Indian Ocean tourist haven of Maldives on Tuesday opened a new chapter in higher education with the upgrading of the Maldives College of Higher Education to the status of Maldives National University.
Its first intake comprises 4,853 students enrolled for full-time courses of longer than a year, and more than 7,000 students registered for short-term courses.
Inaugurating the national university in a ceremony at the Dharubaaruge Exhibition and Conference Hall, Male, Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed appointed former education minister Dr Musthafa Luthfee as chancellor.
The Maldives College of Higher Education, MCHE, was incorporated as the national university in accordance with the Maldives National University Act 3 of 2011. The decree establishing the university was presented to current Minister of Education Sifa Mohamed.
Vice-rector of the MCHE, Hussain Haleem, told University World News that the college had been set up in 1998, bringing several training and research institutes under one umbrella to rationalise resources and assure the quality of existing post-secondary government institutes.
Before 1998, training was offered under different line ministries, said Haleem. For instance, there was an Institute for Teacher Education under the education ministry, and nursing training was conducted by the Allied Health Services Training Centre under the health ministry. There were also centres for vocational, tourism, hotel and catering, maritime and other training.
"Subsequent to a loan provided through the Asian Development Bank's Post-Secondary Education Development Project, government brought all these under one roof."
Under the project "international consultants gave us the vision to transform MCHE into a university". The College Council and consultants worked towards this goal and policies, rules and regulations and curricula were benchmarked against international standards, said Haleem.
All courses offered by MCHE were geared towards conversion into university status, and academic staff upgraded their qualifications.
The college currently has eight faculties, three campuses and two centres. The faculties are of health science, education, engineering technology, arts, Sharia and law, hospitality and tourism studies, Islamic studies, and management and computing.
With the upgrading, the university also hopes to introduce masters courses in Devehi, the Maldivian language, and teacher education during the next semester.
"Government has allocated us a special budget to gear MCHE for its upgrade as a national university. However, the government can incorporate other institutions such as the Marine Research Centre and Environmental Research Centre."
Haleem said the president had emphasised the need for research-based higher education.
Vice-President Dr Mohamed Waheed urged the gathering to make the new institution a symbol of academic enlightenment. "Maldives National University should have the freedom to create, learn and disperse knowledge in order to achieve academic excellence. It is timely that the first university in the country was set up in a democratic environment," he said.
Waheed also stressed the importance of nourishing an educational environment allowing academic freedom and independence from political influence, to ensure the proper functioning of the university.
Source: http://www.universityworldnews.com
Monday, February 21, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Somali pirates heading to Asia
A US military commander warned Thursday that Somali pirates were skirting pressure by moving deeper into Asian waters and said the only solution was to restore stability in the African nation.
Admiral Robert Willard, head of the 300,000-troop Pacific Command, voiced exasperation at years of naval efforts to stem the flow of pirates from Somalia -- which has been effectively without a central government for two decades.
"It's remarkable that 28 nations combining their maritime forces together in the Gulf of Aden have not been able to defeat this challenge," Willard said at the Asia Society on a visit to Washington.
Due to the naval campaign, "the pirates are just ranging farther out into the Indian Ocean -- hundreds of miles, quite literally," Willard said.
Willard said the pirates posed particular problems for Maldives, a sparsely populated Indian Ocean archipelago of 1,192 tiny coral islands best known for its upmarket beach resorts.
Willard said he recently visited Maldives and President Mohamed Nasheed told him that "his problem was that either abandoned pirates or pirates that were lost in the middle of the night in their activities, or otherwise detached from their motherships, were now landing in the Maldives."
The commander also saw problems with piracy in southern India and as far away as the South China Sea.
But he said that joint action by Southeast Asian nations has all but eliminated the piracy that once plagued the Strait of Malacca -- a vital route for oil that powers Asia's largest economies.
Foreign navies have stepped up operations off the Gulf of Aden since 2008. But Willard said that there was ultimately not a naval solution.
"I don't think you're ever going to defeat this threat at the far extremes of their operations on the sea lanes," Willard said.
"But rather you have to go to the centers of gravity -- the source on land in the Horn of Africa -- and put a stop to that," he said.
According to the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates are holding 33 vessels and 712 hostages. The captives come from a diverse array of countries.
Willard said that Somalia's scourge also presented legal quandaries as sailors wondered what to do with captured pirates.
A US federal court on Wednesday sentenced a teenage Somali pirate, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, to nearly 34 years in prison after the US Navy caught him in a clash at sea. The judge rejected pleas to be lenient due to his young age.
And in a first in Asia, a Malaysian court last week charged seven suspected Somali pirates for firing at Malaysian forces. They face the death penalty if convicted.
While failing to end piracy, the naval operations have spurred international cooperation. China sent warships, the first time in modern history that it has deployed on a potential combat mission far from its territorial waters.
Willard praised the coordination between the US and Chinese navies over piracy, saying: "We've been impressed with the effort that China has made."
Military relations between the United States and China have seen sharp swings, with Beijing last year snapping off contacts to protest a $6.4 billion arms package to rival Taiwan.
Willard voiced confidence that military ties with China were becoming steadier.
"I'm cautiously optimistic... that we will continue to progress, even slowly, in the military relationship," he said.
Source: AFP
Admiral Robert Willard, head of the 300,000-troop Pacific Command, voiced exasperation at years of naval efforts to stem the flow of pirates from Somalia -- which has been effectively without a central government for two decades.
"It's remarkable that 28 nations combining their maritime forces together in the Gulf of Aden have not been able to defeat this challenge," Willard said at the Asia Society on a visit to Washington.
Due to the naval campaign, "the pirates are just ranging farther out into the Indian Ocean -- hundreds of miles, quite literally," Willard said.
Willard said the pirates posed particular problems for Maldives, a sparsely populated Indian Ocean archipelago of 1,192 tiny coral islands best known for its upmarket beach resorts.
Willard said he recently visited Maldives and President Mohamed Nasheed told him that "his problem was that either abandoned pirates or pirates that were lost in the middle of the night in their activities, or otherwise detached from their motherships, were now landing in the Maldives."
The commander also saw problems with piracy in southern India and as far away as the South China Sea.
But he said that joint action by Southeast Asian nations has all but eliminated the piracy that once plagued the Strait of Malacca -- a vital route for oil that powers Asia's largest economies.
Foreign navies have stepped up operations off the Gulf of Aden since 2008. But Willard said that there was ultimately not a naval solution.
"I don't think you're ever going to defeat this threat at the far extremes of their operations on the sea lanes," Willard said.
"But rather you have to go to the centers of gravity -- the source on land in the Horn of Africa -- and put a stop to that," he said.
According to the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau, Somali pirates are holding 33 vessels and 712 hostages. The captives come from a diverse array of countries.
Willard said that Somalia's scourge also presented legal quandaries as sailors wondered what to do with captured pirates.
A US federal court on Wednesday sentenced a teenage Somali pirate, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, to nearly 34 years in prison after the US Navy caught him in a clash at sea. The judge rejected pleas to be lenient due to his young age.
And in a first in Asia, a Malaysian court last week charged seven suspected Somali pirates for firing at Malaysian forces. They face the death penalty if convicted.
While failing to end piracy, the naval operations have spurred international cooperation. China sent warships, the first time in modern history that it has deployed on a potential combat mission far from its territorial waters.
Willard praised the coordination between the US and Chinese navies over piracy, saying: "We've been impressed with the effort that China has made."
Military relations between the United States and China have seen sharp swings, with Beijing last year snapping off contacts to protest a $6.4 billion arms package to rival Taiwan.
Willard voiced confidence that military ties with China were becoming steadier.
"I'm cautiously optimistic... that we will continue to progress, even slowly, in the military relationship," he said.
Source: AFP
Maldives free Briton after mid-air bomb scare
Maldives police have released a British man accused of sparking a bomb scare on a SriLankan Airlines flight, a spokesman said Tuesday, explaining he had been misunderstood by cabin crew.The unnamed elderly passenger was detained on Monday after a false alarm aboard a Colombo-London flight that made an emergency stop in the Maldives, an Indian Ocean atoll nation.
"It was a case of miscommunication between the elderly British passenger and the airline crew," Maldivian police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam told by telephone from the capital Male.He said the passenger had alerted the crew to a "disturbance in the plane" and the crew had thought he was raising a bomb scare.There was no immediate comment from the state-run SriLankan Airlines.The airline faced attacks during Sri Lanka’s 37-year civil war that pitched Tamil Tiger rebels against government troops. Fighting ended in May 2009 when the military wiped out the Tigers’ top leaders.
Source: www.onlinenews.com.pk
"It was a case of miscommunication between the elderly British passenger and the airline crew," Maldivian police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam told by telephone from the capital Male.He said the passenger had alerted the crew to a "disturbance in the plane" and the crew had thought he was raising a bomb scare.There was no immediate comment from the state-run SriLankan Airlines.The airline faced attacks during Sri Lanka’s 37-year civil war that pitched Tamil Tiger rebels against government troops. Fighting ended in May 2009 when the military wiped out the Tigers’ top leaders.
Source: www.onlinenews.com.pk
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Saarc gets 1st female secretary general
The 33rd Saarc Council of Ministers Meeting has unanimously endorsed former Maldivian Attorney General Aishath Dhiyana Saeed as the first ever female Secretary General of the eight-nation regional body.
The nomination was approved by the Council of Ministers, which is comprised of the foreign ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (Saarc) countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, at its meeting in Thimphu on February 8-9.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni led Bangladesh delegation at the meeting, which was preceded by meetings of the Saarc Programming Committee and Saarc Standing Committee in Thimphu.
Dhiyana would become the first female and the youngest Secretary General of Saarc when she takes office on March 1, replacing the current Indian diplomat, Sheel Kant Sharma.
Dhiyana is the second Maldivian to be appointed the Saarc Secretary General, after special envoy to the President Ibrahim Hussein Zakee, who served as the Secretary General from January 1, 1992 to December 31, 1993.
Saarc was founded in December 1985 with seven members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined the organisation in 2007. Maldives will host the next 17th Saarc summit in November or December of this year.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net
Saarc nod to multi-entry, multi-city visa
In season 2012, Indian Premier League franchisees can bid for Pakistani players without having to worry about visas.
The eight Saarc countries today approved a liberalised visa regime for 22 categories of professionals, including select sportspersons.
Of these, 19 categories will not need to apply for visas and will instead be able to travel on Saarc stickers. The stickers will be pasted on passports after the necessary checks and clearances.
These will allow unfettered travel through India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Diplomats, MPs, people working on Saarc projects and NGO representatives are among those covered by the visa exemption scheme that will come into force soon.
Their travel will not be limited to specific cities, no police reporting will be required and they will not need to fill up extra forms on entry in any of the eight countries, according to the decision taken by the Saarc Council of Ministers at Thimphu today.
The three categories — select sportspersons, journalists and businesspersons — who will need visas will be granted multi-entry, multi-city 90-day visas. They, too, will be exempt from police reporting.
However, given India’s and Pakistan’s fears about “undesirable” people from across the border entering their territory, the regional forum agreed that the visas and visa stickers would be granted at the discretion of the foreign ministries concerned.
The stickers will be issued within 10 days of application.
Saarc member countries also agreed to expedite pending decisions for smoother functioning of the South Asian University.
The governing body of the university, set up in Delhi, will meet early next month to set in motion the appointments to its steering committee and firm up rules and regulations, sources said.
The university president will be selected from India, with the Union government expected to nominate three persons of whom one will be chosen by the governing board.
The university’s first academic session started in August 2010 with 50 students.
Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao urged the Saarc countries to nominate their members to the university’s governing board at the earliest.
Some countries that are yet to ratify the agreement on setting up the university should also do so at the earliest, Rao added.
The Saarc meeting, which concluded today, approved India’s proposal to set up the South Asian Forum to suggest ways to increase regional trade.
The forum will include members from government, academia and industry.
The steering committee set up for the purpose will meet in Male, possibly next month, to take the proposal forward.
The meeting also stressed the need to take further steps on the South Asian Free Trade Area. Ministers of the eight member countries will meet in Maldives in May to discuss steps to increase trade.
Intra-Saarc trade has crossed the $1billion mark but has enormous potential to grow further, the ministers agreed.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com
The eight Saarc countries today approved a liberalised visa regime for 22 categories of professionals, including select sportspersons.
Of these, 19 categories will not need to apply for visas and will instead be able to travel on Saarc stickers. The stickers will be pasted on passports after the necessary checks and clearances.
These will allow unfettered travel through India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Diplomats, MPs, people working on Saarc projects and NGO representatives are among those covered by the visa exemption scheme that will come into force soon.
Their travel will not be limited to specific cities, no police reporting will be required and they will not need to fill up extra forms on entry in any of the eight countries, according to the decision taken by the Saarc Council of Ministers at Thimphu today.
The three categories — select sportspersons, journalists and businesspersons — who will need visas will be granted multi-entry, multi-city 90-day visas. They, too, will be exempt from police reporting.
However, given India’s and Pakistan’s fears about “undesirable” people from across the border entering their territory, the regional forum agreed that the visas and visa stickers would be granted at the discretion of the foreign ministries concerned.
The stickers will be issued within 10 days of application.
Saarc member countries also agreed to expedite pending decisions for smoother functioning of the South Asian University.
The governing body of the university, set up in Delhi, will meet early next month to set in motion the appointments to its steering committee and firm up rules and regulations, sources said.
The university president will be selected from India, with the Union government expected to nominate three persons of whom one will be chosen by the governing board.
The university’s first academic session started in August 2010 with 50 students.
Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao urged the Saarc countries to nominate their members to the university’s governing board at the earliest.
Some countries that are yet to ratify the agreement on setting up the university should also do so at the earliest, Rao added.
The Saarc meeting, which concluded today, approved India’s proposal to set up the South Asian Forum to suggest ways to increase regional trade.
The forum will include members from government, academia and industry.
The steering committee set up for the purpose will meet in Male, possibly next month, to take the proposal forward.
The meeting also stressed the need to take further steps on the South Asian Free Trade Area. Ministers of the eight member countries will meet in Maldives in May to discuss steps to increase trade.
Intra-Saarc trade has crossed the $1billion mark but has enormous potential to grow further, the ministers agreed.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com
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