More than 100 academics and education leaders representing Bahrain’s higher education sector attended a forum on 'Building a Smarter ICT infrastructure for Higher Education', held recently.

The forum organized under the patronage of Dr Majid Bin Ali Al Nuaimi, Minister of Education and chairman of Higher Education Council, Bahrain, by Ahlia University and SunGard Higher Education, a global provider of software solutions and information technology management services. The gathering discussed how ICT can facilitate higher education’s essential role in building Bahrain’s knowledge economy to achieve the Kingdom’s 2030 vision. 

Keynote speakers from SunGard Higher Education and Ahlia University were complemented by guest speakers from the Higher Education Council (HEC) and the Quality Assurance Authority for Education and Training.

Professor Abdulla Al-Hawaj, president of Ahlia University, described his institution’s experience in using ICT to enhance delivery of quality education by meeting the expectations of young tech-savvy students as well as serving the different operational needs of the institution efficiently. 

“We are in an age where knowledge and technology are perhaps the most important factors of sustainable economic development.  As a knowledge centre, Ahlia University is committed to building smarter ICT infrastructure to transform our learning environment.  Consequently, Ahlia is contributing to Bahrain’s 2030 vision by helping to create a knowledge economy.”

Professor Al-Hawaj added: “We rely on leading global IT vendors like SunGard Higher Education to provide world class solutions that will help us deliver on our strategic objectives.”

Other speakers who shared insights on the role of ICT in higher education and their specific experiences included Ian McKenzie, IT director, Emirates College for Advanced Education and Russell Barron, ICT director Bahrain Polytechnic.

During the forum, SunGard Higher Education highlighted its new Signals solution - an early intervention system that warns students who are at-risk of underperforming in a course and helps facilitate faculty interventions. 

Commenting on the Signals solution, Mathew Boice, vice president EMEA and India, SunGard Higher Education, said: “This is one of a number of specific initiatives we have developed to help institutions enable their learners to achieve their goals, to track academic progress, increase retention and graduation rates.  Signals will be enhanced and brought to higher education institutions through a joint effort by SunGard Higher Education, Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation.  The collaboration illustrates SunGard Higher Education’s new Open Digital Campus strategy in action.” - TradeArabia News Service