Highlighting its commitment to sharing its expertise and experiences in smart learning once again, the Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University, HBMSU, hosted an online Arabic seminar in cooperation with, and under the patronage of the Association of Arab Universities, AARU.

During the webinar, HBMSU reviewed its technological capabilities, cumulative experiences, and its educational philosophy based on technology, innovation, creativity and scientific research. This approach of HBMSU significantly drives the advancement of the educational system under the requirements of the future.

The webinar served as a strategic platform for introducing faculty members of Arab universities, which are also members of the AARU, to the salient features of the HBMSU’s mission to establish a culture of smart learning and distance learning as an effective tool for investing in youth to raise them as future leaders.

The webinar, titled “HBMSU’s Smart Learning Applications”, witnessed huge participation with more than 500 attendees from the academic community in the Arab region, led by Professor Dr. Amr Salama, Secretary-General of the AARU. The participants hailed the pivotal role of HBMUS as the first hub and a pioneer in smart learning in the Arab region. Participants also praised the University’s valuable initiatives to unite and direct efforts towards equipping universities with the necessary tools needed to adopt the smart learning approach and keep pace with the rapid changes in the field of higher education, especially in light of the current challenges.

In his welcoming speech, Dr. Amr Salama, Secretary-General of AARU, thanked HBMSU, appreciating its continued success in creating a stimulating environment for developing creativity and innovation skills, community participation, developing intellectual culture and strengthening effective communication between various stakeholders in the sector, including teachers, management, parents and society.

Dr. Salama emphasised the importance of smart learning, which has become an essential pillar of education that will define future jobs and the requirements of the labour market. It is an important aspect of modern job roles that did not exist before, especially considering predictions that cloud technologies will create 18 million jobs in future along with other Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies.

Prof. Amr concluded his speech saying, “We hail the important role of the UAE’s Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University in leading a pioneering experience in the Arab world in setting specific high-level standards for measuring and evaluating the outcome of distance learning programmes and following up on the supervision and quality control of these programmes to obtain academic accreditation. HBMSU has also been making valuable contributions to enhancing the recognition of graduate degrees for electronic universities. I am pleased to reveal the latest update regarding the “Association of Arab Universities for E-Learning platform”, which was established in partnership with the British Academy for E-Learning, to serve the Arab academic community to face the repercussions of the global crisis resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19.”

Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor of HBMSU, said, “We value the efforts of the Association of Arab Universities in strengthening joint Arab action and activating the frameworks of fruitful cooperation and solid partnership between the various academic institutions. These efforts are in line with HBMSU’s core values.”

Al Awar noted, “The university has successfully become a pioneer in smart learning, which has emerged as one of the main pillars of developing a superior, efficient and flexible educational system that can effectively respond to unprecedented challenges such as the current COVID-19 crisis.”

Dr. Al Awar said in conclusion, “We are going forward with the launch of specific initiatives that enable us to spread and share our high expertise in the service of the path of developing teaching and learning in the Arab world based on the spirit of initiative, creativity and innovation, and provide lifelong learning opportunities for all, thereby enhancing the Arab region’s role in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, 2030 that consider quality and equitable education as the key foundation to make a positive and tangible difference in the lives of people.”

Some of the key topics discussed include the establishment of a smart education environment that encourages learners; re-designing the courses to suit e-learning; and ways to use the available online educational sources, as well as adopting evaluation and feedback mechanisms in e-learning, among other relevant fields.