Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

BOX 4-2Evaluating the Performance of Projects to Network Educational InstitutionsThe world’s universities were active throughout the1980s and 1990s in the creation of networks linkingtheir campuses and faculties and in linking theirresearch laboratories with counterparts worldwide.A number of Arab countries over the last decadehave created computer networks to link theiruniversities. The dominant pattern in the work ofthese networks is directed at displaying summaryinformation around educational activities andscientific research. Content on many websites ofthese networks and the universities they comprisehas also not been kept up to date.On the other hand, some Arab countries 29 arepartners in implementing regional projects andinitiatives aimed at creating a network infrastructurethat links their scientific and research institutionsglobally. Among these is the Consortium of ArabMediterranean Research and Education Networks(CAMREN), which aims to set up the infrastructurefor e-services and applications to assist researchersin the region (Nawwar al-‘Awwa, background paperfor this Report, in Arabic). It is planned that thisproject will allow the utilisation of computingresources available in the partner institutions vianetworked computing applications. Such projectssecure the high computing power necessary toutilise specialist software such as simulation andvirtual reality applications. They help to createnew learning environments based on multimediaapplications, online lectures, and other means toenrich Arabic content on the net and escape thetraditional approaches prevailing in many Arabeducational institutions.One of the potential benefits of the availabilityof internet services is to make it possible forschools to communicate with each other and withthe government bodies concerned with supportingthem and monitoring their performance. A veryimportant initiative on this level is the endeavourby the Supreme Education Council in Qatar tomonitor the performance of schools that offer basiceducational services on the internet and to publishregular reports that review their progress in a rangeof respects. 30The link betweenICT use and highereducation in the Arabcountries is weakfor upper-income countries is 5.26. 28 Interms of the immediate future, the currentplans of the Arab states for the provisionof computers to schools and through theseof internet access cannot be described asoverly ambitious.The link between ICT use and highereducation in the Arab countries is weak.This makes it imperative to providecomputers at low cost, and to orienteducational curricula design in a directionthat stimulates computer and internetuse within the educational process, as isthe case in many countries. The numberof virtual universities in the Arab Worldremains low. 31 The first virtual universitywas founded in Syria in the last decade.A virtual university has also been setup in Tunisia. 32 Cairo University incooperation with UNESCO has foundedvirtual faculties. Ain Shams University isalso cooperating with the MediterraneanVirtual University to offer a collectionof study materials via the internet. Thee-academy in Jordan can be considered amodel for virtual universities created in theArab countries. The Arab Open Universityadopts some forms of e-learning since ituses multimedia computer resources.ICT also offers valuable opportunitiesfor communication between educationalinstitutions of various levels and withthe bodies concerned with evaluatingtheir performance (see Box 4-2). Suchcommunication has the greatest influencein knowledge dissemination and inperformance evaluation on the national,regional, and international levels.The lessons derived from a review ofglobal trends in exploiting ICT in educationcan be summarised as follows:1. Introduction of wholesale changes toeducational curricula to make it possibleto offer them on the internet.2. Eradication of computer illiteracy forworkers in all aspects of education andeducational administration.3. Provision of schools with appropriatecomputer hardware and internet access,and reliance on open source software atall educational levels.4. Development and deployment of theconcepts, tools, and software of selflearning.5. Strengthening the partnership betweenschool, home, and community byutilising available technology.The number ofvirtual universitiesin the Arab Worldremains lowINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES161