Empire's heir in need of a new image

LAST June an independent international survey of Commonwealth studies found that awareness and understanding of the Commonwealth was "truly appalling".

Despite the designation of 1997 as the UK Year of the Commonwealth, with the heads of government meeting in Edinburgh this October as its focal point, little has changed in the intervening period.

The Symons commission, chaired by Thomas Symons, founding president of Trent University in Canada, made 43 recommendations to improve understanding by boosting the profile of Commonwealth studies in universities across the Commonwealth.

Professor Symons and his colleagues concluded that, with just a few exceptions, universities were doing little to dispel the prevailing ignorance surrounding the Commonwealth in most member states. What was going on lacked focus and coherence, and had a tendency to be preoccupied with the past. Ironically, the best work was taking place in universities outside rather than within the Commonwealth.

"There is a need to bring Commonwealth studies up to date, reflecting the evolution of the Commonwealth into a truly polycentric association," Professor Symons said this week.

The commission called on governments to encourage their university funding agencies to foster Commonwealth studies across the curriculum, and suggested the creation of an Association for Commonwealth Studies to act as a network for academics and scholars to exchange knowledge.

After a warm welcome by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the Commonwealth secretary-general, the report has gathered dust. But in little more than a month, Commonwealth education ministers are to gather in Botswana. The attention they will be able to give to the Symons report is uncertain - there is a heavy agenda for the meeting, with a concentration on the application of technology to education across the board.

But if the ministers ignore the report they will miss the opportunity to tackle the Commonwealth's greatest problem - its low profile.

Without a strong and readily accessible body of knowledge and understanding of the Commonwealth, based firmly in the rigorous academic inquiry which Professor Symons and his colleagues seek, the tangible benefits of Commonwealth membership will continue to be overlooked, and the argument for more funding to meet the needs of developing Commonwealth countries will be harder to sustain.

The Council for Education in the Commonwealth, which offered Professor Symons a platform this week to repeat his message before Botswana, has called for British contributions to Commonwealth multilateral programmes to be increased from their present share of less than 1 per cent of British multilateral aid.

Under the previous Government, Commonwealth student and postgraduate exchange programmes were progressively starved of the limited resources needed to make them effective tools for the transfer of skills and building of greater mutual knowledge.

Existing Commonwealth agencies and schemes have the potential, according to the council, to be a powerful force for cooperation between universities in the Commonwealth. But performance has not matched that potential.

Britain has historically been the most generous donor to the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, which funds postgraduates to continue their research in other Commonwealth member states. But the number of scholarships funded by Britain peaked at 999 in 1991/92 and has fallen steadily since, to a forecast 740 in 1997/98. Coupled with reductions in funding by other countries, principally Canada, it is now unlikely that the target of 2,000 awards by 2000 for the scheme overall will be met.

Similarly, the Commonwealth Universities Study Abroad Consortium, set up in 1993 to encourage undergraduates to take part of their degree in a university in another member state, is developing only slowly, for lack of funding.

The Commonwealth of Learning, formed to encourage cooperative action in distance learning, has seen its core funding halved despite a substantial UK contribution.

Yet there are ideas floating around for new schemes - Michael Gibbons, Association of Commonwealth Universities secretary general, hankers for a Socrates-style programme.

But in the tight public spending climate in Britain and elsewhere, even the small amounts needed to reinvigorate existing schemes will be hard to find. Without public confidence, politicians will be unable to respond and the only prospect of breaking the cycle lies with better quality information, better disseminated.

Stephen Cox, lately Commonwealth Institute director general, and from next week Royal Society executive secretary, believes that the Public Understanding of Science initiative could provide a template for drawing public attention to the benefits of Commonwealth membership.