2001 Chair’s Report, Lynn Davies

August 2001

World Council for Comparative Education Societies

The year has been one of intensive discussions about the BAICE bid to host the 2004 World Congress.  A draft proposal was submitted, but for a number of reasons, our eventual decision was not to proceed with the bid.  The reaction to our proposal from the WCCES Executive was not as encouraging as we had hoped, and confirmed the enormity, risk and time involved in attempting such a large venture.  I attended the World Congress in Korea in July this year, and was able to convey our views to the Executive at their meeting.  I also raised questions about what services WCCES provides to its members apart from the generation of the three-yearly Congress.  The new President of WCCES is Anne Hickling-Hudson, who was able to be warmly welcomed on behalf of BAICE.

BAICE Committee

David Matheson has asked to retire as treasurer of BAICE from September, and we are in the process of handing over to a new treasurer, to be announced at the AGM.  I would like to thank David for all the work he has put in, especially with all the complications of merging and establishing different accounts.  The role of secretary has been split, and Keith Holmes agreed to become membership secretary.   There have been no new nominations for committee members, but Joanna Le Metais and Simon McGrath have been re-nominated and expressed their willingness to continue.

Thank you to Hugh Hawes for his active participation as Association president for 2000 – 2001.  He will be delivering the BAICE presidential paper at the Oxford Conference on Wednesday 19 September.   

Membership

Membership remains steady if not slightly increasing (147 paid up but 20 more expected).  There are 58 members paying by standing order, which is a substantial increase.  It is hoped that if we can find a mechanism for international members to pay by credit card, we could also increase this international membership.  The category of corporate membership has been abandoned.  A new brochure is being prepared by Taylor and Francis which will detail our activities as well as general information. 

Day Conferences

A day conference on International Education and National Systems was held in Bath on 18th October 2000 and a conference on Researching Education and Occupational Travelling was held at the University of Warwick on March 2nd.  A day conference on Education in Africa was held in Edinburgh on May 11th;  the next year’s conference on this theme may be in IOE.  Thanks to all involved in organising these conferences, and encouraging students to attend.

 BAICE Conference 2002

It is confirmed that the next BAICE conference will be at Nottingham, for the first weekend in September 2002.  The theme will be Lifelong Learning and the Building of Human and Social Capital.  It has been proposed that John Morgan be co-opted onto the BAICE committee in order to facilitate the conference planning.

Professor Lynn Davies, Chair of BAICE

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