Cape Verde interested in the Portuguese language distance learning
Cape Verde’s ambassador to Portugal, Eurico Monteiro, said today in Lisbon that Cape Verde is interested in distance education in Portuguese, saying that the country has “all the reasons of the world” to bet on this modality.
“In the first place, because it is a poor country, with few resources, secondly because Cape Verdeans have a special aptness for studies – we have almost a little less than a third of the population to study – thirdly, because we are an archipelagic country and fourth, because we are a diasporic nation, ” said Eurico Monteiro, at the conference” The future of distance education in Portuguese “, an initiative of the Open University (UA) in Lisbon.
For the ambassador of Cape Verde in Portugal, distance learning represents the “phenomenon that was set up as a prime example” in order to take advantage of “the potential of knowledge for the benefit of the population and development“.
“With distance learning structures, we are getting more and more far, more public and at a lower cost,” he said.
Eurico Monteiro pointed out that in the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), the states “have all the benefit of distance learning cooperation platforms, namely in the area of higher education, allowing greater access to the population, diversification of courses, facilitating specialization and excellence “.
“Distance education has played a key role in enhancing the teaching of the Portuguese language, in its promotion and diffusion in the diasporas of our countries, to the level of the CPLP countries themselves, such as the African Portuguese Speaking Countries and Timor-Leste,” the ambassador said.
Under the CPLP, Eurico Monteiro considered that the Portuguese-language distance learning model is the “most efficient way“.
In Cape Verde, the Open University has already been present and has poles in Santiago, São Vicente, São Nicolau, Santo Antão, Fogo and Sal, according to the ambassador.
“The structures of distance learning are an indispensable solution for the diversification of teaching and the path to innovation“, concludes Eurico Monteiro.
The Dean of the Open University, Paulo Dias, defended that the future of distance learning is digital and will contribute to bring Portuguese speakers closer together, promoting a “community of value”.
“Distance education in Portuguese is one of the priorities for this university whose mission is to value the creation of knowledge” of Portuguese, which is spoken by 250 million speakers and is likely to reach 400 million by the end of the century, he said. UA.
Paulo Dias noted that the growth of the Portuguese-speaking community will be accentuated “from 2030, 2040, especially in Africa” and called attention to the need to adopt regulatory mechanisms in Portugal and in other countries.
“Within the scope of the CPLP, only three countries have regulation of distance education: Brazil, Cape Verde and Mozambique“, which would be essential to promote quality and “social trust in distance education“, establishing a set of conditions and sharing models that would allow them to develop joint educational offerings.
The conference, which will take place today and Friday, in Lisbon, will highlight technological topics, including Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Environments and Augmented Reality.
“The education of the future will be developed using this type of system to support students, namely virtual laboratories,” said the Rector of the AU.
In focus will also be issues related to recognition, quality and regulation as well as digital literacy.
