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UNE Symposium to discuss the role of education in rebuilding East Timor

May 01, 2006


Timorese StudentsThe riots involving sacked soldiers late last week and the images of traumatised women and children highlighted the volatility of post independence East Timor, together with the ongoing need for Australian support in every aspect of national reconstruction. In keeping with the University of New England's commitment to supporting the National University of Timor Leste (UNTL), a unique round-table symposium on Wednesday, 3rd May, will give Australian experts and the interested public the chance to learn from the East Timor experience.

"Education in Post-Conflict Environments: Challenges and Opportunities" will be opened by UNE Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, with Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies, Professor Victor Minichiello to close it. It will be hosted by the Centre for Research in Aboriginal and Multicultural Studies and the Centre for Research on Education in Context.

Demonstrative of the groundswell of support in Australia for East Timor's national university, speakers are coming to the symposium from Griffith, Melbourne and the Australian National University, Canberra. “We'll be joined by visiting East Timorese academics who will pass on their first-hand experiences in the reconstruction of their newly independent nation. The Dean of the Faculty of Education and Science at UNTL, Dr Miguel Maia dos Santos and Agostinho da Conceicao Anunu, a lecturer in UNTL's English Department are visiting UNE from April 27 to May 5. Their visit has been funded by a grant from the James Blythe Peace Foundation and as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant,” said Dr Greg Carroll, from UNE's Centre for Research on Education in Context.

UNE has been involved in peace-building and education programs in East Timor since 2000, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNTL in 2003. Current research includes a study of "friendship agreements" between Australia and Timor Leste, the provision of non-formal education in Timor Leste, and an investigation of the role of English in nation-building, using Timor Leste as a case study.

“The commitment within the Faculty of Education to supporting our colleagues at UNTL was demonstrated when individual faculty members contributed enough money to fund a mission to UNTL to answer a call for help with curriculum reform from former UNE student, Sancho Patricio. In January, Greg Carroll, Laurence Tamatea and I went to work with the English Department,” said senior lecturer Glenda Kupczyk-Romanczuk. “Now, with this return visit to UNE, we hope to enhance the confidence of our East Timorese colleagues in delivering English language programs, and to develop their research capacities through a joint project, in which we will gather and analyse data on the perceptions of past, present and future students of the role of English and the changing needs of Timor Leste.”

“We've been made to feel very welcome. Our ability to teach English as a 2nd or 3rd language is crucial to the reconstruction and development of East Timor as a nation. We are learning a lot here,” said Dr Miguel Maia dos Santos. “According to our new constitution, Tetun is the national and official language, with Portuguese as the co-official language. English and Bahasa Indonesian are our 'working' languages,” he explained.

Dr Carroll told us that the aim of the symposium is "to bring together academics, postgraduates, and people interested in discussing the challenges and opportunities surrounding post-conflict environments, particularly, though not exclusively, Timor-Leste.

The symposium promises to intertwine analytical research and study with human experience and insights from those on the frontline of a new nation's battle for renewal.

Pictured in the above-right photograph is Dr.Rebecca Spence and Ms. Glenda Kupczyk-Romanczuk from UNE's Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies either side of their East Timorese visitors, Augustinho da Conseicao Anunu and Dr Miguel Maia dos Santos

For further information please contact: Glenda Kupczyk-Romanczuk: 6773 3838

Posted by Gary Fry at May 1, 2006 02:34 PM