The Ninth Annual AUDEM Conference will be held Sunday through Wednesday lunch, November 8-11, 1998. The Opening Session will be in the Aula of The Slovak University of Agriculture. All other sessions will be at the conference hotel, Agroinstitut

OPENING SESSION

The Opening Session will begin at 16.30 at the Aula of The Slovak University of Agriculture located very near the Agroinstitut.

MAJOR CONFERENCE THEMES

The overall theme for the conference is globalization of education. The increasingly global economy is driving an increasingly global society. Ramifications for higher education are profound. Virtual universities, once thought to be no threat to traditional educa- tional delivery systems, are rapidly gaining in quality and appeal to students, but also in course content leading to curriculum innovation. Students are increasingly mobile as well, using information technology to search for the program, anywhere in the world, that fit their increasingly sophisticated interests. Such forces increase global competition among universities. Pro-active strategies could include, for example, distance education and easier credit transfer.

The conference will offer approximately 20 sessions (plenary and concurrent) organized in three broad tracks to elaborate on the globalization of education and related impacts on development of our democracies, economies, and cultures and the interaction with institutions of higher education:

A. UNIVERSITY AND SOCIETY--sessions dealing with values and motivations in democracies and university-community outreach.

B. INFRASTRUCTURE REFORM--sessions dealing with legal and finan- cial reform, higher education restructure, assessment and accreditation, information technology, improving organization- al effectiveness, distance education and increasing Internet bandwidth and access.

C. CURRICULUM REFORM--for example in economics, business and en- gineering education, environmental management, public health & medicine, journalism, social work and philosophy education.

POSSIBLE SESSION TITLES INCLUDE

• Human Values and Motivations in Democracies
• Philosophy and Higher Education in Post-Communist Europe
• Strengthening the Civil Society
• Post-Communist Societies: Economic and Social Alternatives
• Globalization of Classes and Curricula
• New Methods of Teaching
• Strategies for International Cooperation
• Utilizing Internet for University Instruction & Administration
• Model University Programs: Bilateral and Multilateral Programs
• Accreditation of Faculties, Curricula and Institutions & Trans- fer of Credits between Institutions
• Partnerships in Information System Development
• The World of E-Commerce - Will AUDEM Member University Gradu- ates Be Ready To Face The Challenges?
• Library Development Issues
• Energy Efficiency and Environmental Management Education
• Journalism and Journalism Education
• Science and Medical Education
• Non-Governmental Organizations: The University in the Community
• Management and Economic Education and Training
• AUDEM Connections: Updates from Organizations Consortia and Partnerships Begun at Annual AUDEM Conferences

There will also be four to six "Internet Exercise Lab Sessions," with eleven work stations during the Conference open to partic- ipants for assisted or independent experimentation/discovery.

Participation is invited from Member and Non-Member Universities

The Summer, 98 issue of the Alliance Newsletter contains complete conference and registration information. For other information, or if you would like to participate in the program, please contact the AUDEM Business Office.