Highlights from Nigel Paine Chief Executive of SCET's Keynote Address

0930 - 10.30 Wed 13th November 1996

At his keynote address which opened the Lifelong Learning in a Wired World conference in the EICC today Nigel Paine SCET'S CEO said:

"The best service we can do our young people is to help them leave education at whatever age, not just skilled in a particular subject area, but confident and competent in a technological world. The best thing we can do for our adults is to help them on the first steps towards coping and competing in that world."

"I am going to take this opportunity this morning to relaunch SCET and relaunch it around three words and those three words are "Making a Difference."

"During the coming year, every part of everything we do will be brought under the microscope and judged against that standard. We have done okay up until now, but to do better, we are going to have to be better. This will underpin everything."

He also made five major announcements:

• "My first announcement is that SCET pledges to work with the Scottish authorities to get 5,000 teachers and lecturers Internet ready by the end of 1997."
• "And to help schools and Colleges get closer to that future, SCET will work with the cable companies and telecommunications providers to offer FREE web pages to all educational institutions and a free internet email address. Scotland will be 100% wired during 1997. That is my second announcement."
• "We want to help more disadvantaged and disabled adults, more schools and community centres get access to computer based technologies. We are going to start negotiations with the major manufacturers to recycle recent but not the most recent technology into schools for disabled adults to use in their homes and we will do that as cheaply as possible. Third announcement."
• "How can SCET help. We believe in our technology and how it can transform learning. We are the first non US company in the history of Apple computer to be trusted in developing a launch product for a totally new technology the eMate 300 which Jeff Soloff from Apple Computer Inc. will be demonstrating at this conference. SCET will have a product ready for the spring launch of the new schools computer. My fourth announcement."
• "And my fifth announcement: we believe so much in our technology and in particular in our new schools MIS product SCET Works that we are prepared to make the ultimate gamble on its success and its viability. For those Education Authorities that commit to us, we will give the software away FREE to them. Details of the partnership agreements will given at the product launch on Wednesday at 5.30."

He concluded his presentation by saying that, "IT is, above all, a learning technology and as organisations (whether economic, social, educational or political) unless we learn at the pace in which our environment changes we will ultimately wither and die. We learn and we teach others to learn. This is our unique role."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Contact: Kim Conway/Anne Eastgate

Web: http://www.scet.org.uk

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