The ALCN congratulates Owen James Saleeba (Jim) on being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to vocational and tertiary education and to the community.
The ALCN is proud of the strategic leadership Jim provided to the Australian Learning Communities Network throughout the period 2001-2019. This network would not exist without his leadership. He promoted lifelong learning projects and the concept of learning cities in a very practical way. Through conferences, the sharing of lifelong learning practitioner stories through newsletters, advocating for practitioners, he built a strong network. He aligned strongly with international learning city partners, particularly in the United Kingdom and Canada. He left the ALCN in a financially stable position which has enabled the present network to grow.
Jim and the City of Wodonga played a critical role in the foundation of the ALCN, following a very successful Learning Cities Conference (2000) held in Wodonga. The Learning Cities movement is international, and Jim coordinated experts from the United Kingdom and Canada to share experiences at various times. Now the ALCN Inc. members include all five Australian UNESCO Learning Cities (Wyndham, and Melton (VIC), Canning (WA), Circular Head (TAS) and Wollongong (NSW), and other lifelong learning cities and learning communities that aspire to the UNESCO learning cities framework.
The ALCN Inc. is known internationally as representing UNESCO learning cities as demonstrated in 2024 when I was invited to present case studies of Australian UNESCO learning cities at the ASEAN+3 Regional Learning Cities Conference in Bangkok in October 2024. Members of the network are often invited to present their learning city project work at international webinars run by UNESCO and other international forums. This builds on the legacy that Jim founded.
