Dubai - MENA Herald: Following the appointment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a founding member of the Leading Countries of the World in Transforming Education program, high level executives from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Smart Learning Program (MBRSLP) attended the first high-level meeting in Helsinki, Finland.
Supported by Microsoft, Education World Forum and the British Educational Training and Technology Show (BETT), this global initiative selected the UAE as a founding member thanks to the high-profile successes of MBRSLP. The Program has been instrumental in developing and implementing smart learning strategies, achieving concrete results in the education space. Today the MBRSLP provides an extensive pool of knowledge that can be shared with other nations and presents a model that can be emulated in the field of smart learning.
The inaugural meeting brought together high-level leaders from around the world to collaborate on the future of technology-based learning and to join hands in shaping future approaches to education globally. In addition to the UAE, the meeting was attended by representatives from Finland, Hong Kong, United States, United Kingdom, Argentina and Australia. The UAE smart learning initiatives were highly applauded by participating education leaders who recognised the UAE model as one that other nations can learn from and furthermore implement as to transform their own education systems.
The Leading Countries of the World in Transforming Education program strives to provide ministries and departments of education with an ideal platform in which to collaborate, learn, share, support, and provide guidance to each other and others on developing transformative world-class education systems with the aim of providing both teachers and students with creative teaching and learning environment.
As part of the initiative, member countries will hold three strategic meetings each year. The first two meetings will be an Annual Strategic Meeting by a host country and the Education World Forum, taking place in January 2017 in London, where members will be able to communicate the progress to peer countries. The final meeting will be held in Seattle and representatives from member countries will have the opportunity to meet education ministers, high level leaders and representatives from relevant renowned institutions such as UNESCO and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
“The Leading Countries of the World in Transforming Education initiative provides us with a great opportunity to share the UAE’s experience in education transformation and smart learning. We are proud to be a founding member of the program which provides a global platform for education leaders from around the world, and allows us to shed light on our continued efforts to provide world-class education in the UAE. This is a testament to the UAE’s strategic investment in education in order to build future leaders and lead the way in smart learning globally,” His Excellency Mohammed Gheyath, Director General of MBRSLP, commented.
“During the high-level meeting we discussed the successes achieved by MBRSLP in a relatively short period of time and its many initiatives which can be of great benefit to all nations seeking a successful transformation in education as the UAE has a rich experience in education in general, and smart learning in particular,“ H.E. added.
H.E. also noted some of the many unique initiatives of MBRSLP, including the "Smart School Transformation Framework". The holistic framework, a first of its kind in the region, is a core pillar of the MBRSLP and offers schools the tools to assess the effective application of technology. It provides educators a self-managed framework as to empower them in their ICT journey and allows them to design suitable roadmaps to achieve goals for technological advancement. H.E. also noted the “Leadership Development” program which aims to enable school leaders to understand the strategic role of technology, equip schools with effective practices and approaches and ultimately advance student learning through the use of the latest technologies.
“We have signed a partnership agreement with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to make the UAE a global hub to promote national smart learning initiatives, share the MBRSLP success story with the world and provide consultation to countries seeking to develop a national smart learning framework,” H.E. concluded.
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