39th Annual Meeting

Gajaraj Dhanarajan
 

GAJARAJ DHANARAJAN is director of the Wawasan Education Foundation; visiting professor at the Open University, United Kingdom; and advisor at the School of Professional and Continuing Education, University of Hong Kong. Between 1995 and 2004 he was president and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, Canada, with a mandate to support, enhance and promote open learning in the member states of the Commonwealth. From 1991 to 1995 he was director, the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (now the Open University of Hong Kong), which he helped to establish. Previously, he was the founding CEO of Disted College, Malaysia, 1987–1989. It was during his time as a lecturer in the University of Science Malaysia, 1970-1987, that he became increasingly involved in the development of open and distance learning at both regional and national levels. He has participated in establishing a number of distance education systems in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, working with numerous international development agencies and financial institutions. He has received many awards and honors for his contributions and innovations in education delivery, including the Order of Chivalry by the State of Penang, Malaysia. He holds a doctoral degree in biology from the University of Aston, Birmingham, UK.