Synopsis of Global University
May 8, 1995
Global (electronic) University (GU) (TM) consortium, a divisional activity of GLObal Systems Analysis
and Simulation Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA), seeks to improve
the quality and availability of international educational exchange through
the use of telecommunication and information technologies. GU's main activity
is to achieve global electronic education across national boundaries by
developing a cooperative infrastructure, so as to enlarge and expand the
present exchange of educational courses into a worldwide system. GU will
provide underserved people of the Third World with access to the educational
excellence available from all the world's finest sources. Students could
access the resources with a far greater variety of educational philosophies,
courses and instructional styles than they could ever encounter on a single
campus. This is "the 21st century version of the Fulbright exchange
program."
Over the past two decades GLOSAS/USA played a major pioneering role
in making possible the extension of the U.S. data communication networks
to other countries, particularly to Japan, and the deregulation of Japanese
telecommunication policies for the use of email and computer-mediated conferencing
(CMC) (thanks to a help from the Late Commerce Secretary Malcom Baldrige),
which were emulated by many other countries (now over 75 with Internet access
and 150 with email). GLOSAS has also conducted a number of "Global
Lecture Hall (GLH)" (TM) multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive
videoconferences employing various inexpensive media accessible to the less
developed countries, ranging from Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand,
North and South America, entire Europe, Scandinavia, Middle East, Russia,
etc. These demonstrations have helped build a network of leaders in the
global electronic distance education movement.
GLOSAS recently established a Consortium for the Advancement of Affordable
Distance Education (CAADE). CAADE will develop and demonstrate a new
high-performance electronic communications infrastructure which combines
efficiently and affordably the power of Computer-Mediated Multimedia Systems
(CMMS) via Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS), low-to-medium speed terrestrial
Internet and (where appropriate) wireless telecommunications, and direct
digital broadcasting satellite (DDBS) technologies as a new model for distance
education. This infrastructure will increase access to richer learning environments
while enhancing interactivity and sharing of information among teachers
and students. The result will be improved and reformed education instruction
for the underserved population in the U.S. (and later around the world).
This approach will also help to take bandwidth pressures off the now-overburdened
Internet. In not so distant future, students in any remote locations with
laptop computers can receive those courses from America (later from any
other countries), and they can earn degrees from the Global University.
On the other hand, teachers and professors (active or retired) can also
transmit their courses from their offices or homes through ordinary telephone
lines for worldwide broadcasting. GU has already gained wide support of
prominent educational institutions, information technology specialists and
industry in many countries. Global (electronic) University is an evolutionary
concept with no global precedent. GU attempts to provide cooperative, experiential
learning opportunities on the widest possible scale for fostering peace
and sustainable development. The time is ripe for global electronic distance
education.
GLOSAS/USA is a publicly supported, nonprofit, educational service organization.
The ultimate goal of the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association
in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA) is to establish a Globally Distributed
Decision Support System with distributed interactive computer gaming
simulation system, for problem analysis, policy formulation and assessment,
to be used for training of would-be decision makers in conflict resolution,
crisis management, and negotiation with win-win cooperation. This is to
be done with integrated use of distributed computer conferencing, databases
and simulation systems among various countries. Several systems will be
interconnected to form a global neural computer network [a term coined
by Utsumi in 1981]. The total system will act as a single system with parallel
processing of those subsystems in individual countries. Here each game player
with his submodel and database corresponds to a neuron, an Internet node
to a synapsis, and the Internet the nerves of a global brain.
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.
Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education
Founder, Consortium for the Affordable and Accessible Distance Education
(CAADE)
President, Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA)
Chairman, GLOSAS/USA
43-23 Colden Street, #9-L
Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.
Tel: 718-939-0928
Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only -- prefer email)
utsumi@columbia.edu
Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676