UMIOR
UNIVERSITY STUDENT MOBILITY PROGRAM FOR THE INDIAN OCEAN
REGION
BACKGROUND
The proposal on the University Student Mobility Programme for
the Indian Ocean was made by the Council of Australian University
Presidents [AVCC] at the 7th Meeting of the Indian Ocean
Rim Academic Group (IORAG) held in Maputo, Mozambique 2000. The
proposal was supported byMauritius,Malaysia,Thailand
andSultanateofOman.
The proposal envisaged the exchange of staff and students and in
the process, contributing to the human resource development in each
Member State of the IOR-ARC region.
A Foundation Meeting of the University Mobility in the Indian
Ocean Region (UMIOR) programme was held in Perth, Australia, in
June 2000 to consider the Draft Constitution for the programme,
including proposals for the Membership, Governance, Financial
Arrangements and Student Exchange Procedures.
LAUNCH OF THE PROGRAMME
The First General Conference of the University Mobility in the
Indian Ocean Region [UMIOR] was held at the University of Mauritius
on 9-10 July 2001. Participants from fourteen Member States of
IOR-ARC, agreed to launch a new university student and staff
mobility programme for the region.
The meeting electedMauritiusas the Chair of UMIOR andIndiaas
Deputy Chair for the next two years. Australia was elected
Secretary of UMIOR.
The meeting agreed to an interim Constitution for the UMIOR
Programme and approved a Work Plan for the UMIOR Secretariat.
GENERAL CONFERENCES OF THE UNIVERSITY MOBILITY IN THE INDIAN
OCEAN REGION [UMIOR]
To date, six General Conferences of the University Mobility in
the Indian Ocean Region [UMIOR] were held in different IOR-ARC
Member States. At these conferences various decisions were
taken on University Staff and Student Mobility and Exchanges across
the Indian Ocean Region; consideration of an Interim Constitution;
Work Plan and promoting wider participation and membership in
UMIOR. In the Fourth General Conference, India showed
willingness to host the UMIOR Secretariat at the Association of
Indian Universities (AIU). Since then, the draft constitution
of UMIOR has been under active consideration.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
At the 16th Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Academic
Group,India briefed the meeting on the current status of the Draft
Constitution and proposed various amendments to be made. India
undertook to host a meeting of the Sub-Committee comprising
ofIndia,Indonesia,I.R. of Iran,Sultanate of Oman andYemen to
consider the Final Draft which would then be presented for
consideration to the next meeting of the Academic Group and CSO/COM
for approval in India, September 2011.