September 25, 2001
EDUCATIONAL PORTAL OF THE AMERICAS GOES ONLINE
The Educational Portal of the Americas, now available online (www.educoea.org), is a vast new Internet resource that brings the best of distance learning opportunities to students and scholars throughout the Americas, particularly those living in remote communities and rural areas. The Portal is an initiative of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD), the OAS development agency, to enable the citizens of the Americas to promote their own personal and professional development.
Inaugurated last night during the Second Meeting of the Ministers of Education in Punta del Este, Uruguay, the Educational Portal provides access to more than 4,000 distance learning courses offered by accredited universities in all academic disciplines. All universities and programs of study are carefully evaluated and pre-qualified by renowned educational experts. Currently over 1,000 universities throughout the United States, Canada, Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean are included on the Portal’s educational offerings.
In addition, the IACD is offering fellowships exclusively through the Portal, enabling professionals and students to take distance learning courses at little or no cost. The Portal’s other services include courses for the continuous professional development of teachers, and links to digital libraries, educational foundations and other sites of interest.
"At the Third Summit of the Americas, the Presidents assigned top priority to applying information technology for improving education," commented IACD Director General Ron Scheman. "This effort by the IACD will bring new opportunities for professionals and government officials, as well as students and scholars to improve their knowledge and skills by accessing distance learning at the best of our universities."
OAS Secretary General César Gaviria expressed his hope that the Educational Portal of the Americas would contribute to creating "a better informed and more democratic society, one in which education is the navigation chart of the Americas."
The Educational Portal of the Americas is currently available in English and Spanish, but will be expanded to include information in French and Portuguese as well.
The development of the Portal was been made possible through a Cooperation Fund established by the United States and through strategic alliances with public and private-sector institutions, including Microsoft.
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