Qatar University College of Education (QU-CED) hosted a symposium yesterday on “Education in Gulf Co-operation Council countries: Educational creativity and aspirations”.
The event aimed to promote best practices in education in the GCC region, and to facilitate collaboration and co-ordination among educators to advance professional development, educational research, and the development of new strategies in the curricula.
It brought together over 30 speakers including academics, researchers, experts and practitioners from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. They discussed the educational initiatives in the GCC and addressed the challenges facing the education sector in the region.
Attendees included QU president Dr Hassan Rashid al-Derham, founder and chairman of Al Faisal Without Borders Foundation HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, QU vice president and CAO Dr Mazen Hasna, CED dean Dr Hissa Sadiq, as well as ministry officials, and CED faculty, students and staff.
Keynote speaker assistant professor Dr Khalifa al-Suwaidi from UAE University Department of Curriculum and Learning Methods presented on “Coming through the desert: educational contradictions”.
The programme agenda featured the launch of Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al-Thani Award for Educational Research. It also included sessions and workshops that addressed a wide range of topics.
Dr al-Derham said, “This forum is an advance step towards promoting efforts to establish co-ordination between the educational systems in the GCC countries, and to create opportunities of exchanging successful experiences and building excellent professional partnerships. Over the past few years, the GCC countries made tremendous efforts to advance general and higher education.”
Sheikh Faisal said: “I am honoured to participate in this educational forum to launch our educational project which is related to scientific research and aims to develop knowledge and education in Qatar. In this regard, we believe that the private sector reflects the readiness of societies to contribute with the government sector to disseminating awareness in the area of education.”