BAICE 2005 AGM

14 September 2005, New College, Oxford

Present:  Professor Clive Harber [Chair], Professor Rosalind Pritchard (Vice-chair) and members as listed in the Minute file

1.             Apologies:  As listed in the Minute file

2.         Minutes of the 2004 AGM:  Approved

3.         Matters arising:  Peter Williams updated members on developments and consultation opportunities following the release of the DfES policy paper, published last Autumn, on the internationalisation of education.

4.         Executive Committee Membership:

4.1           Election of an Ordinary Member of the Executive:  Thanks were extended to Professor John Morgan who had stepped down as an Executive member on completion of his term of office.  He was thanked by members for the considerable contribution he had made to the development of the Association.   It was noted that Kwame Akyeampong, University of Sussex, had been proposed as his replacement and members agreed to waive the normal requirement of prior membership for one year as no other names had been put forward.  Kwame was welcomed and congratulated.

4.2       Appointment of a co-opted NGO Representative: Sheila Aikman was thanked by members for the major contribution she had made to the work of the Association over many years.  Pressure of work now required her to step down as the co-opted NGO representative and members were asked to forward suggestions for a replacement to the Chair.

4.3       Student Representative:  It was confirmed that Lynne Townley would continue as student representative on the Executive for the second of her two-year term of office.

5.         Election of Honorary Members:  Members confirmed the election of Peter Williams to Honorary Membership of the Association and he was congratulated on his recent OBE.

6.         BAICE President 2005/06:  It was reported that Professor Keith Lewin had been approached and would be pleased to act as the Association’s President for the academic year 2005-2006.  Members present whole-heartedly supported this proposal and confirmed the appointment.

7.         Report from the Chair:  Professor Harber reported that the Association remained in a strong position with membership continuing to grow.  Thanks were extended to Angeline Barrett for all her hard work and initiative in helping to bring about this growth over the last 2 or 3 years.  It  was announced that she would be replaced by Lyla Brown (PhD student, University of Bristol) who was offered thanks and congratulations by the members.  Professor Harber also highlighted Compare’s strengthening position in the field of journals of comparative and international education, and Caroline Dyer and Rosemary Preston, as joint editors, were thanked for their hard work and the smooth handover to Karen Evans and Anna Robinson-Pant, the current editors.  The Chair reported on the success of the 12th WCCES Conference in Cuba which was attended by over 1,000 delegates from 68 countries, including many BAICE members.  It was noted that the Association had nominated David Turner as the next Secretary General, though Christine Fox had now formally been elected.  Members of the Executive were pleased to offer her their support.  Rosemary Preston was thanked for representing BAICE at the most recent meeting of the Executive Committee of WCCES in March at the CIES conference in California.  The Chair reported continuing strong links with both UKFIET and BERA, with whom BAICE would jointly sponsor a one day conference on ‘The teaching of history in post-communist countries’, to be held next June at the Institute of Education, University of London.  Finally, all members of the Executive were thanked for their hard work over the last year.   A special vote of thanks went to Chris Colclough for agreeing to the Association’s President during the past academic year.

8.         Treasurer’s Report:  Dr Ulrike Niens circulated a Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31st July 2005 audited by Coppers &Co.  She drew members’ attention to the concern that additional commitments meant that outgoings were currently exceeding income.  Several suggestions were made from the floor: seeking charitable status, gaining interest on the current account, structuring conference fees to encourage membership.  It was agreed that the Executive would consider these suggestions at their next Executive Meeting and report back to the membership with an appropriate financial plan, which would include an appropriate financial buffer to cover for unexpected losses.  It was also proposed that a strategic plan for conference attendance to promote Compare should be considered.  The Treasurer was thanked by the membership for her work on behalf of the Association.

9.         Report from the Membership Secretary:  Dr Angeline Barrett circulated her annual report and drew attention to the fact that membership now exceeded 200, though there had been little increase in 2004-2005.  The report also explained the Executive’s proposal to increase membership fees as from January 2006.  After considerable discussion, it was agreed that an increase in fees should be deferred until an appropriate financial strategy had been put to the membership. The Membership Secretary was thanked for her work on behalf of the Association.

10.            Report from the Editors of Compare:  Professor Karen Evans spoke to the Compare report, which was circulated to members.  She thanked Rosemary Preston and Caroline Dyer for easing the handover of editorship and reported a continuing healthy flow of articles.  Two special issues and an open issue had been published during the year and a further special issue (guest editor: Fiona Leach) on Education in the 21st Century: conflict, reconciliation and reconstruction, based on papers from last year’s BAICE conference, had just gone to the press.  A further special issue had been agreed for 2006 on the theme of ‘Lifelong Learning: international policies and experiences (guest editor: Catherine Casey) and another proposal on ‘Reconceptualising Private Sector Contributions to Learning and Livelihood’ was being considered.  It was noted that a decision had been made to restrict special issues to no more that two a year.  Members were encouraged to become reviewers, both for articles (email: compare@baice.ac.uk) and books (email: p.m.rose@sussex.ac.uk).  It was reported that four new members had joined the Editorial Board and that there would shortly be 4 vacancies on the International Advisory Board.  The editors were thanks for their work on behalf of the Association.

11.       Report on BAICE website:  Dr Pauline Rose reported that the BAICE website now had a link to WCCES.  She reminded members to keep her informed of suitable information/events which needed to be added for the benefit of members.  The membership expressed their thanks for the hard work which had been put into designing and updating the website.

12.              BAICE Conference 2006:  It was reported that the 2006 BAICE conference, on the theme of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’, was being organised by Tony Gallagher and Rosalind Pritchard and would be held at Queens University, Belfast from 8-10 September. There one-day overlap with the 2006 BERA conference had been unavoidable.

13.              Any Other Business: Members agreed that an effort should be made to sponsor more one-day conferences.  It was agreed that a member of the Executive would be identified to coordinate this and liaise with BERA and its Comparative Special Interest Group.

The thanks of student members were offered to the Executive for their financial contribution to a social evening held at the Oxford Conference.

14.       Date of next Annual General Meeting:  BAICE Conference, Queens University, Belfast, 8-10 September 2006.

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