DOHA - University students and government employees in Qatar will now have free access to a wide range of professional courses, with the Supreme Council for Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) launching the e-Learning Portal, a new online educational tool.
The portal, developed in collaboration with the Institute of Administration Development (IAD) in Qatar was officially launched at a ceremony held at the Four Seasons hotel yesterday.
The portal will provide users access to 4,000 free courses covering business and professional development, IT and computer software programmes. Initially, the courses will be available for university students and government employees, but later it will be offered to the wider community of professionals in the country.
Courses will be taught in Arabic, English or French using multi-media materials with course accreditation from international institutes, such as the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Project Management Institute (PMI).
"As courses will be offered over the internet, the e-Learning Portal can be accessed anytime, day or night, by busy professionals, university students and other aspiring adults looking to enrich their lives by using technology to access education," said ictQATAR's e-Learning Portal Project Manager, Amal Ahmed Kamel, while giving a presentation on the portal.
IAD, specialising in life-long education and training for private and public sector employees, will manage course users, maintain course quality and issue completion certificates.
"IAD and ictQATAR are committed to making learning available to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Over the next year, 5000 users will be given access to the e-Learning Portal," said IAD's e-Learning Project Coordinator, Taoufik Homri.
"In the first phase of the initiative we are targetting government employees and university students, and as such we are now inviting the Ministries to submit their employee nomination lists through the IAD website, so we can begin distributing e-Learning Portal access cards to users."
"Our aim is to widen the scope of the project to include private sector workers and homemakers. Interested people can contact IAD about course information and access cards, which will be distributed based on availability."
The courses can be used by certified professionals to maintain their industry certifications, such as Certified Practicing Accountants, plus soft skill courses to improve communication and leadership capabilities.
With IAD managing enrollments and users, ictQATAR will provide technical support to ensure smooth uptake of the portal. Users will be able to access online step-by-step usage guides, multi-lingual question and answer fact sheets and an IT help-desk through a live chat function.
The e-learning portal's course testing is based on pre- and post-assessment and each course module has simulation exercises so users can test their new skills. When a user completes 80 per cent of a course successfully they receive a certificate from IAD and will be eligible for another course at no charge.
© The Peninsula 2007
