In his keynote speech at the 3rd International Conference on e-Learning:

Abu-Ghazaleh Presents Educational Proposals Foreseeing the Future of Arab Education

Abu-Ghazaleh, in his opening speech entitled "Educational Proposals for Consideration" tackled the status of education and learning in the Arab world

MANAMA, Bahrain --- April 8, 2010 --- The 3rd International Conference on E-Learning organized by the University of Bahrain, entitled "The Role of E-Learning in Supporting Knowledge Communities" was inaugurated in Manama under the patronage of HE Dr. Sheikh Ahmed bin Attiyatullah Al-Khalifa, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs.

Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chair of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and chairman and CEO of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org), highlighted the effort and support presented by the University of Bahrain to knowledge communities.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh, in his opening speech entitled "Educational Proposals for Consideration" tackled the status of education and learning in the Arab world.
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh confirmed that the world has moved from the era of traditional education to the age of E-learning and self-learning by utilizing the information and communications technology of today.

"The invention of the computer and the Internet was the beginning of the information age: the age of easily inputting and outputting information. Then, the world entered the beginning of the knowledge age: the age of using information to produce more knowledge. Still the world is going to enter the age of wisdom: the age of using knowledge to serve the humanity," he said.

"For this, we signed a partnership agreement with UNESCO to work on measuring knowledge in all Arab countries to facilitate upgrading its levels in the various indicators," he added.

On the importance of education to the development process, he pointed out that the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have emphasized education as a fundamental tool for development.
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stated that the UN Secretary-General had assigned him, in his capacity as the Chair of the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development, to lead a project to accelerate the achievement of the MDGs, and to present an integrated action plan to the World Summit to achieve these goals by 2015.

He also stressed on the importance of research for educational process.
"The ?Arab Organization for Research and Education Networks? was launched in Brussels last month at the invitation and support of the European Union to help research centers in Arab universities by networking, coordinating and exchanging of knowledge with each other; as more research leads to innovation and development,? he said.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh tackled also several initiatives including the agreement signed between TAG-Org and UNESCO to measure knowledge in the Arab countries, the "case study" program for postgraduate studies at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College of Business, TAG-Knowledge centers, the TAG-PEDIA project, and the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Cambridge IT Skills certificate in addition to others.

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