BAICE 2003 AGM

10 September 2003, New College Oxford

Present:  Professor Michael Crossley [Chair], members as listed in the Minute file

The Chair was pleased to see so many people attending the AGM and welcomed members and potential members alike.

 1.             Apologies:  None received

2.             Minutes of the 2002 AGM:  Minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2002 were approved.

3.             Matters arising:  There were no matters arising not covered elsewhere on the Agenda.

 4.             Executive Committee Membership:

4.1          It was reported that the re-election of Dr Yusuf Sayeed had been confirmed by the membership.

4.2          Membership Secretary: It was reported that, with the posting of Dr Keith Holmes to UNESCO/IIEP in Paris, Angeline Barrett had been appointed as the in-coming Membership Secretary.  Keith was thanked for his excellent work and Angeline was thanked for continuing with this.

4.3          Student Representative:  Dr Rosemary Preston spoke to a proposal to include student representation on the Executive Committee.  It was intended that this would help facilitate the promotion of activities aimed specifically at research students, e.g. day conferences/seminars to discuss work in progress, meet with other students working in the same area, discuss common problems and celebrate achievements.  It was explained that, within the current Constitution, it would be possible to action this relatively easily through co-option.  The proposal was supported and endorsed by the members and Rosemary agreed to clarify procedures.

Action: RP

5.             BAICE President 2003/04:  It was reported that Professor Lynn Davies had been approached to act as the Association’s President for the next academic year.  Her experience and expertise was considered to be especially apposite in view of the theme of next year’s BAICE conference.  The members whole-heartedly supported this proposal, confirmed the appointment, and expressed their thanks to Professor Davies.  Professor Davies thanked the members for their support.

6.             Report from the Chair:  Professor Crossley reported that it had been a very positive year for the Association with links to related organisations strengthened, membership increasing, a new website launched, stable finances and the Association’s journal, Compare, going from three to four issues a year, generating additional income from the publishers.  All involved were thanked for their hard work.  Four BAICE bursaries had been awarded to students to enable them to attend the conference and congratulations were extended to the four successful students: Euan Davidson, Takako Suzuku, Laura Day [Edmund King Bursary] and M.V.Mukundan.  Professor Graham Vulliamy was thanked for his excellent Presidential Address and for his work for the Association throughout the year.  Thanks were also extended to Dame Pearlette Louisy as the invited BAICE/Compare Speaker at Oxford.

It was noted with great sadness that Professor Nigel Grant, University of Glasgow, had recently passed away.  His distinguished contribution to the field of comparative education was recognised by BAICE, and expressions of sympathy were extended to his family.  Tributes will be paid in the next issue of Compare.

7.             Treasurer’s Report:  Dr Lore Arthur circulated recently audited accounts for the Association which showed a healthy financial situation.  It was suggested that the Association could earn interest on reserves by opening a deposit account to supplement the present current account.  This led to some discussion concerning the management of Association funds and a possible need to minimise tax payments by changing its status.  It was agreed that the Executive Committee would consider these issues in the next academic year.

Action: BAICE Executive Committee

8.             Report from the Membership Secretary:  It was reported that membership was steadily increasing and strategies were being devised to attract new members.  All were encouraged to pay their subscriptions by standing order to avoid the need to chase members for late payments.  Dr Keith Holmes was thanked for his excellent work on the Association’s membership database.

9.           Report from the Editors of Compare:  It was reported that the journal was flourishing, with an average of five to six articles being submitted for publication each month.  A special issue of papers from the BAICE conference at Nottingham had been produced, an edition on the Economics of Education was planned together with issues containing papers from the Oxford Conference.  It was reported that on-line sales and individual purchases of papers had increased, and attention was drawn to the importance of maintaining library subscriptions.

Thanks were extended to members of the Editorial Board, together with members who review articles for the journal.  Thanks were also extended to John Lowe, the outgoing reviews editor, who was being replaced by Pauline Rose.

A proposal was put to the membership that a modest honorarium should be paid to the editors of the journal. It was noted that the Executive Committee had supported this in principle, subject to AGM feedback, detailed costings and annual review.  Members suggested that the proposal should be advanced in parallel with the financial considerations referred to in 7. above.  This should then be reported back to members at the next AGM.

10.          Report on BAICE website:  It was reported that, building on the work done by Simon McGrath, BAICE now had a ‘stand alone’ website address www.baice.ac.uk     Dr Pauline Rose was developing the website as a resource for members and asked for information to be passed to her so that it could be continually updated.  Pauline was thanked for her hard work in developing and maintaining the website.

11.          Links with related organisations:

Professor Crossley reported that, building on a successful joint BAICE/BERA one day conference, organised jointly with Professor Ian Stronach and held at the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education, further related events would be considered.

BAICE continued to strengthen its links with the World Council of Comparative Education Societies [WCCES] as one of its 30+ member societies. It was noted that, with Dr Rosemary Preston as the current Chair of its Standing Committee, BAICE members would be centrally involved in the forthcoming conference to be held in Cuba on Education and Social Justice.

Links with the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences were also being strengthened and members were invited to contact the Secretary with any suggestions for proposed future nominations.

12.          Forthcoming events:

BAICE 2004 Conference:  This would be held at the University of Sussex on the theme of Education for the 21st Century: Conflict, Reconciliation and Reconstruction. BAICE members would be entitled to reduced fees and the brochure and registration form were available on-line.  Thanks were extended to Dr Fiona Leach for producing the conference brochure in time for the UKFIET conference.

WCCES Conference:  It was reported that more information about this, including a call for papers, could be found on the University of Hong Kong’s website.  There would be reduced conference fees for BAICE members and for registering early.

BAICE One Day Conferences: It was reported that an event  was being planned, on the theme of Identity, to be hosted by Professor Andy Green at the Institute of Education in London.  Proposals for other one day BAICE Conferences were welcomed via the BAICE Secretary.

13.          Any Other Business:  None

14.          Date of next Annual General Meeting:  This will be in September 2004 at the BAICE Conference to be held at the University of Sussex [3-5 September 2004].

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