Islamic Virtual University to be established in UAE

The United Arab Emirates has granted the land for and offered to bear all expenses related to the construction of the Islamic Virtual University, which aims to expand education and research cooperation in the Islamic world, produce and disseminate teaching knowledge, and promote higher education quality, internet access and e-infrastructure.

Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council member and ruler of Sharjah, has offered a 1,000-square-metre plot in Sharjah’s University City to the Islamic Virtual University, which will be built at his expense.

Gulf News reported that this was announced by Mohammad Esmail Mohammad, deputy director of finance and administration at the University of Sharjah, during a meeting of technical experts at the International Islamic Charity Organisation headquarters in Kuwait.

Proposed by the Iran-based Azad Islamic University and supervised by the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW), the Islamic Virtual University will offer degrees in science and technology through partnerships between federation members and other leading universities.

Besides developing education and training programmes, the university will work to catalyse educational reform and collaboration within the Islamic world.

The technical meeting decided to hold a workshop in Tunisia in December to finalise the strategic working plan for the Islamic Virtual University, to be ready for approval at a university council meeting to be held in Malaysia next January.

Hassanuddeen Abd Aziz, dean of the centre for postgraduate studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia, welcomed the new development.

"This new virtual university will enhance online learning capabilities in the Islamic world and strengthen the Iran-based Inter-Islamic Network of Virtual Universities,” Abd Aziz told University World News.

"However, it is not enough to just set up virtual universities. These universities must learn from best practices at universities worldwide how to advance distance education and provide high-quality online learning,” Abd Aziz added.

In this regard a report published last month, Inter-organisational Task Force on Online Learning, outlined six steps to achieve that:

• • Create the capacity to better inform online learning policy-making and regulation by establishing a formal alliance of organisations dedicated to advancing online education.
  
• • Inform policy-makers and higher education leaders of the fundamental importance of online learning in serving the new ‘traditional’ student: the adult learner.
  
• • Make the connection between online learning, the economy, workforce development and access, and communicate that connection to policy-makers and higher education leaders.
  
• • Give presidents and provosts the information and tools they need to make online education a key strategic asset for financial sustainability and mission fulfilment.
  
• • Engage policy-makers and other key stakeholders in conversations about new opportunities for innovation afforded by e-learning.
  
• • Use the overwhelming body of research demonstrating the quality of online learning to dispel the lingering scepticism of policy-makers and the public at large.

“Incorporating these steps into the work plan of the Islamic Virtual University will help in establishing an efficient and sustainable university able to play a vital role in economic development and to meet rising demand for higher education without expanding physical campus infrastructure,” Abd Aziz concluded.