To overcome the poor quality transition into online education and students’ limited access to affordable Internet connections, telecommunication companies in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Morocco provided free extra data or free access to several education websites between March 2020 and March 2021.
Computer applications and entrepreneurial skills were identified as the most valuable to Iraqi students, according to an evaluation of career development centres by the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX).
Despite the challenges, Farley thinks the MENA region is on the brink of a distance learning revolution, especially for, but not limited to higher education.
“The number of platforms available to provide quality open content for higher education has grown considerably in the past three to four years,” he said. “New start-ups in the pipeline are poised to ride the wave of venture capital pumping into the digital economy.”
He cited a recent Bayt.com study that revealed that obtaining new skills was ranked higher than increasing salary as a career motivation for workers in the United Arab Emirates. “Greater workforce is interested in skills. Online platforms are poised to provide the access they seek,” he told Al-Fanar Media.
“Universities in the MENA region would do well to follow the labour market trends to offer continuous training, stackable certifications, and certificates to workers.”
Easing Regulatory Barriers
To truly embrace distance learning, Farley calls on governments and institutions to address regulatory barriers and accreditation standards that define schools by the acquisition of land and fixed capital.
“Higher education in MENA is exceptionally centralized, and states often regulate how much online instruction is allowed for higher education,” he wrote in an email.
“Jordan qualified only 30 percent virtual learning in higher education until the pandemic, opening the possibility for 100 percent online education for the first time. Increasing that cap would allow universities to access students in different ways.”
Besides high-speed Internet connection and compatible devices, Farley thinks that the heart of distance learning is flexibility—allowing people with different circumstances to participate in higher education. “Even as distance learning accelerates in MENA, digital divides will suppress access to millions of low-income people,” he said.
“Governments should focus on their digital development, facilitate the expansion of infrastructure that supports high-speed broadband, and offer income support to families that can’t afford subscription services.”
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Farley believes that distance education and blended learning will be permanently part of the new education paradigm, which needs to be fully accredited to prove its worth. “There is still a bias, and many proven benefits, to in-person instruction,” he wrote.
“In the near term, we believe online education will play a supplementary role, correcting endemic challenges within higher education in MENA, such as teaching critical thinking, entrepreneurship skills, original research, and design thinking.”
Distance learning may also fill many of the gaps that employers see in traditional higher education. “In that way, it may facilitate a shift to more practical and innovative training for youth,” Farley concluded.
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