Photo credit: Blaise MacMullin. Margaret Haughey, vice-president academic, President Frits Pannekoek, Mohamed Ally, director of the Centre for Distance Education, and Dr. Avgoustos Tsinakos, associate professor with the department of industrial informatics at TEI Kaval

A very important step for Athabasca University's international profile was taken on November 5 when the university signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Technological Education Institute of Kavala in Greece. Part of the process of developing the MOA involved the accreditation of AU's master of distance education and of AU by TEI Kavala. And with accreditation in Greece comes accreditation in the European Union.

AU is the first external distance education university to be accredited in Greece, says Mohamed Ally, the director of the Centre for Distance Education.The collaboration started when a graduate of the MDE from Greece, who is a strong advocate of both distance education and of Athabasca University, wanted the degree to be offered in Greece where no such program currently exists, Ally says. Preliminary talks took about one year. This alumnus will now be AU's contact in Greece.

This agreement has tremendous potential for recruiting students for the MDE from Greece and from the rest of Europe, Ally says. "The prospective increase to our international student registrations is great."

Agreements covering other AU programs are also a possibility. While Greek representatives were in Edmonton, they met with the Centre for Innovative Management about a possible MOA for the executive MBA.

Arrangements like these provide exciting new opportunities for academics as well. Ally, noting that there was quite a bit of media interest when the agreement was signed in Greece, says that "Greater exposure in Europe also sets the stage for the possibility of collaborative research in Greece and in other European countries."