Korean and Finnish programmes share UN prize on using computers in education

A Korean home learning system and a programme offering degrees by distance education in the Finnish region of Lapland are the first laureates of a prize awarded by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to encourage the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education.

UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, who will present the King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education at a ceremony at the organization’s headquarters in Paris next month, announced the laureates today in a press statement.

One of the winners, the Cyber Home Learning System for Primary and Secondary Students, is a project of the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Education and Human Resources and the Korea Education and Research Information Service. The scheme is a national model for collaborative educational planning aimed at bridging the digital divide between those with access to ICTs and those without.

The other winner, the eDegree Programme in Lapland, was developed by Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic, consider a pioneer in distance education in Finland. The scheme, which initially targeted Lapland but now operates across the country, focuses on helping unemployed adults in rural, remote and depopulated areas complete their studies.

Launched last year, the honour carries a prize of $50,000 – to be shared by this year’s two laureates – and is funded by Bahrain.

A five-member jury, chaired by Paul Resta, Director of the Learning Technology Centre at the University of Texas at Austin (United States), selected the winners from 35 entries.

The Dedicated Civil Law Teaching Website for Arab Law Students from the School of Law at Kuwait University received an honourable mention from the jury.