International Council for Open and Distance Education


The International Council for Open and Distance Education is a membership-led global organization in the field of online, open, flexible and technology enhanced education. It consists of more than 200 higher education institutions and organizations in some 84 countries.
Founded in 1938, the International Council for Open and Distance Education has its permanent secretariat in Oslo, Norway. It is currently partly funded by a grant from the Government of Norway and has been hosted in Oslo since 1988.
Since 1960 ICDE has a partnership with UNESCO.
ICDE is a registered not-for-profit organization in Norway, operating under Norwegian law.

History

ICDE was founded in 1938 in Canada as the International Council for Correspondence Education. The first World Conference was held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada the same year.
The idea for holding an international conference came from J. W. Gibson director of high school correspondence instruction for the province of British Columbia, who attended the National Conference on Supervised Correspondence Study in New York in 1936. Gibson shared with other delegates knowledge he had about correspondence education in several countries and then suggested that an international conference be held. Rex Haight, chair of the New York conference, supported the idea and later served as president for the first conference.
At the second conference, held in 1948, the delegates voted unanimously to establish a more permanent international council.
At the third conference, held in 1953 in Christchurch, New Zealand, a committee presented a proposed “Constitution and Rules” for the council that was adopted by the delegates. These rules helped the council became more established and conferences began to follow a more regular schedule.
In 1969 the 8th World Conference was held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris to celebrate the affiliation with UNESCO.
In 1982 during the 12th World Conference held in Vancouver, the organization changed its name to "the International Council for Open and Distance Education".
In 1988 during the 14th ICDE World Conference held in Oslo, the King of Norway His Majesty King Olav V and the Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland both attended. This conference led to the establishment of the permamenent secretariat in Oslo.

Membership

ICDE is a membership organization with 10 different types of memberships: Individuals, Students, Associations, Colleges and Universities, Companies, Educational networks, Governmental organizations, Non-Governmental organizations, Secondary Schools.

World Conference

Since 2000 ICDE World Conference are organized biannually and on a different continent each time. The conference is traditionally organized at the invitation of an ICDE member.
SessionLocationYearHosted byfrom
29thNatal2021The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte - UFRNBRA
28thDublin2019The Dublin City University - DCUIRE
27thToronto2017Contact NorthCAN
26thSun City2015The University of South Africa - UNISAZAF
25thTianjin2013The Tianjin Open UniversityCHN
24thJakarta2011The Indonesia Open University IDN
23rdMasstricht2009The Open University of the NetherlandsNLD
22ndRio de Janeiro2006The Brazilian Distance Education Association - ABEDBRA
21stHong Kong2004The Open University of Hong KongHKG
20thDüsseldorf2001The FernUniversitätGER
19thHagen1999The FernUniversitätGER
18thState College1997The Pennsylvania State UniversityUSA
17thMilton Keynes1994The Open University UKUK
16thNonthaburi1992The Sukhothai Thammathirat Open UniversityTHA
15thCaracas1990Universidad Nacional AbiertaVEN
14thOslo1988The Norwegian Association for Distance EducationNOR
13thMelbourne1985La Trobe UniversityAUS
12thVancouver1982The Athabasca UniversityCAN
11thNew Delhi1978The Punjabi UniversityIND
10thBrighton1975The Rapid Results CollegeUK
9thWarrenton1972USA
8thParis1969The UNESCO HeadquarterFRA
7thStockholm1965SWE
6thGearhart1961USA
5thBanff1958The Banff School of Fine ArtsCAN
4thState College1953The Penn State CollegeUSA
3rdChristchurch1950NZL
2ndLincoln1948The University of NebraskaUSA
1stVictoria1938The Department of Education for British ColumbiaCAN

Presidents

The first 10 years of the council the presidence was led by Rex Haight in Canada who was also the chair of the first ICCE World Conference held in Victoria in 1938. Since 1948 the presidency of the council has been limited to a maximum of 5 years.
SessionfromtoNameAffiliationfrom
23rd2020-Neil FassinaThe Athabasca UniversityCAN
22nd20182020Belinda TynanThe RMIT UniversityAUS
21st20152018Mandla MakhanyaThe University of South Africa - UNISAZAF
20th20122015Tian BelawatiThe Indonesia Open University IDN
19th20082012Fritz PannekoekThe Athabasca UniversityCAN
18th20042008Helmut HoyerThe FernUniversitätGER
17th19992004Molly Corbett-BroadThe University of North CarolinaUSA
16th19951999Armando Rocha-TrindadeUniversidad Nacional AbiertaVEN
15th19921995Marian CroftThe Laurentian UniversityCAN
14th19881992David SewartThe Open University UKUK
13th19851988Kevin SmithThe University of New EnglandAUS
12th19821985Sir John DanielThe Athabasca UniversityCAN
11th19781982Bakhshish SinghThe Punjabi UniversityIND
10th19751978David YoungThe Rapid Results CollegeUK
9th19721975Börje HolmbergThe Hermods FoundationSWE
8th19691972Charles WedemeyerThe Open University UKUK
7th19651969Rene ErdosThe University of New South WalesAUS
6th19611965Donald Cameron
5th19581961G.J. BuckThe Banff School of Fine ArtsCAN
4th19541958William R.Young
3rd19501954A.G. ButcherThe New Zealand Correspondence SchoolNZL
2nd19481950Knute O. BroadyThe University of NebraskaUSA
1st19381948Rex HaightThe High School correspondence instruction for the province of British ColumbiaCAN

Publications

ICDE regularly publishes or contributes to reports, surveys and articles on the following topics: Quality in Education; Online Education; Flexible Education; Elearning; Lifelong Learning; Higher Education; Distance Education; Open Education and OER ; Alternative Digital Credentials; Learning Analytics; Education Policies; Research and Innovation in Education; etc.

ICDE publishes the Open Praxis journal, a peer-reviewed open access scholarly journal focusing on research and innovation in open, distance and flexible education.