ITU ACADEMY CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE (COE) NETWORK IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Introduction

In the Asia-Pacific region, the CoE network is comprised of six nodes established to offer training programs on specific telecommunications/ICT themes. These include:

• Policy and regulation (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Pakistan)
• Spectrum management (Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Iran)
• Rural ICT development (Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia)
• Technology awareness (Pusan National University, Republic of Korea)
• Business management (Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Thailand)
• Broadcasting (Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, Malaysia).

Objective

The aim of this project is to build capacity in the Arab States region in various ICT related fields. The fields of focus are:

1. Telecom polices and regulations
2. Business management
3. Rural ICT Development
4. ICT New services and technologies

Further, the Arab States CoE Network aims to:

* Improve the CoE Network and continue participating as providers of knowledge, content and/or experience, in order to keep offering a variety of training programs.
* Ensure the provision of advanced on line training courses combined with face-to-face training programmes targeting high and mid-level governmental authorities, regulatory bodies and the senior executives and managers of operators and service providers.
* Develop training courses in line with the needs and expectations of the telecommunication sector in the Arab States Region in the areas of 1. telecommunication policy, 2. regulation, 3. telecommunication management and 4. new technologies and services,
* Establish mechanisms that increase the participation of all regional countries in the activities of the CoE, from facilitating these regional countries acting as hosts to encouraging them to make the most of training interventions. There is a strong focus on building a synergistic team.
* Set up the mechanisms needed to achieve self-sufficiency for the Centre of Excellence for the Arab States Region through the application of the criteria of cost recovery, distribution of responsibilities among the Network participants, and the promotion and systematic marketing of the CoE’s various offerings.

Strategy

Each Node acts as a focal point for a theme and cooperates to deliver high quality specialized training courses with a number of partners – including policy makers, regulators, industry and academia. Twenty five (25) face-to-face and eighteen (18) e-learning courses have been held between May 2007 and October 2010 (current phase of ASP CoE), benefiting over 1500 participants.

Action plan 2012

For training and events planned for the ASP region, please visit upcoming training and events for this region. However, the program, schedule and content is subject to modification by the organizer at any time. For more information please contact the CoE coordinator for Asia and Pacific.

CoE Asia and Pacific Coordinator

Ashish Narayan
Phone: +662 (57) 49 326 
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CoE Nodes 

This Action Plan shows planned events for the year 2012. However, the program, schedule and content is subject to modification by the organizer at any time. For more information please contact the CoE coordinator for the ASP region.

Overview

The Asia and Pacific (ASP) CoE network relies on partnerships to deliver high quality content that is international in nature. Some existing partnerships include:

1.  The organizations hosting the nodes, viz.

- Ministries [Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Thailand; Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Islamic Republic of Iran];
- Regulator [Pakistan];
- Universities [Pusan National University, Republic of Korea; Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia]

2.  Partners such as:

- Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA);
- Busan Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea;
- National Telecommunications Commission, Thailand;
- Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC);
- United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST),
- Asia Pacific Women's Information Network Center (APWINC),
- International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), and others.

3.  Organizations providing support, such as:

- The Government of Australia’s Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
- infoDev at the World Bank in Washington DC, USA.

These partnerships provide important benefits to the ITU’s capacity building initiatives bringing new knowledge, financial assistance and skill sets in the areas of policy making, regulation, and business and technologies, while partners benefit through enhanced visibility and increased opportunity to interact with pan-regional stakeholder groups.

The ASP CoE Network aims to move to a self sustaining basis through a combination of partnership support and training fees. Face-to-face courses are currently charged at USD 400 per participant (fee charged to recover costs) unless externally sponsored. It is ITU’s endeavour to provide high quality trainings to its members.

Ensuring the Sustainable Development of the CoE Network

Each of the workshops held under the ITU ASP CoE are evaluated on a scale of five on the following aspects

- Program relevance
- Program impact
- Learning program (teaching method, content)
- Program speakers and staff
- Facilities

Based on this assessment and discussion with the focal point for the nodes, a decision is made as to whether to continue to work with the node or how to improve the work of the node. An official report on project activities is submitted annually by each CoE Node. These reports include the project progress and achievements, actions and amendments, while the financial status of the project is set up and disseminated by the HCB Division of the ITU. The workshops in the CoE ASP region have been rated very highly.

The ultimate aim of the ASP CoE Network is to bring together the expertise of the entire region in the field of telecommunications/ICT (trainers, consultants, researchers, advisors), to share models of success, empower and train a cadre of regional professionals.

Roles and Responsibilities

Management Committee

The functioning of the network is overseen by a Management Committee comprised of Members (currently China PRC, India, Japan, and Vietnam) and the ITU. The Management Committee meets every year to review the progress, advise on future programs and takes key decisions on the functioning of the CoE network. The ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific acts as the Secretariat and the coordinator is housed within the Regional Office in Bangkok.