Distance Education Quality Assurance Initiative from the Founders of Global Learn Day.

Initiative from the Founders of Global Learn Day to use ISO 9001:2000 to enhance the world-wide quality of Distance Education programs. Support package, training and services available.

San Diego, California. October 29th, 2001: The Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global Education announces its initiative for Distance Education Quality Assurance (DEQA), as presented during Global Learn Day V on 7th October 2001.

The DEQA Initiative is in the form of a support package for educational institutes and departments to enable them to develop and implement a Quality Management System to the ISO 9001:2000 standard, leading to successful registration as an ISO-certified body.

Development of the Internet has brought education and training straight to the computer-user's desktop, often eliminating the need to attend physical classrooms for many types of courses. Today there are more than 150,000 Internet-delivered college courses from accredited universities worldwide.

All legitimate colleges and universities must meet academic requirements as set forth by national supervisory bodies. The DEQA Initiative encourages application of the globally-recognised ISO 9000 Quality Management Standard in designing and delivering Distance Education courses. A strict requirement of the standard is that in-country regulations, including accreditation or educational licensing, must be correctly implemented and in force for the certification to be valid.

Some colleges and universities have already adopted ISO 9000 for Distance Education and for campus programs, and two were featured during the Global Learn Day V presentation. The DEQA Initiative is aimed at increasing penetration in the Internet, Corporate College and University sector to gain ISO 9000 certification for Distance Education. It will also enable more Distance Learners to have the same assurance for the quality of service they receive as can already be found in much of business, commerce and industry.

The DEQA Package consists of a step-by-step implementation guide and draft documents to be tailored to meet particular circumstances and satisfy the requirements of the standard. Packages for training and consultancy services are also available as part of the initiative.

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