Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), is lined up as one of the speakers for the Times Higher Education (THE) Digital Universities Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this September 2022. The event will be held on 12-14 September 2022 in Abi Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Chancellor Bandalaria will be speaking on the topic “Designing a benchmarking framework for Online, Open, Smart and Technology-oriented Higher Education.” Along with her are acclaimed experts in the field of open education, distance education, and technology-enhanced learning. These include Torunn Gjelsvik, Secretary-General of the International Council for Open and Distance (ICDE) as moderator, Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Nadia Badrawi, President, Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
THE Digital Universities MENA will bring together education leaders, policymakers, and industry partners to discuss how institutions across the region can embrace digital transformation and internationalization to meet the needs of students and society and rise to the forefront of the digital economy. The event aims to answer the question “How can education prepare students for a world that doesn’t exist yet?”
The event will also feature cutting-edge start-ups and the latest technologies set to accelerate education into the next decade of transformation. Agenda themes covered by this international event include accelerated campus transformations, world-class teaching, and learning innovation and revolutionized the student experience online.
THE Global Universities MENA is co-hosted by Khalifa University. More information about the event is available on the THE Digital Universities MENA Website.
Written by Anna Cañas-Llamas
Edited by Myra C. Almodiel
Photo from THE Digital Uiversities MENA Website.