Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
RSS, US corporation to promote distance learning
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — The Royal Scientific Society (RSS) has gone into partnership with a US corporation specialised in distance learning to promote the concept of proactive distance education in the region.
The aim of the project is to “reduce the learning
gap between the West and East,” a statement by Global Distance Learning Campus (GDLC)
said, adding that Jordan will play the “lighthouse” role for the project in the
Middle East.
The US corporation organises certification and graduate studies from reputed 52
institutions and organisations in the United States in the fields of management,
IT and engineering.
On Tuesday, it organised a workshop at the RSS headquarters with the aim of
acquainting interested organisations with the importance of distance learning
and opportunities open for Jordanians to pursue education in the US with the
help of multimedia.
The managerial seminar, titled “Simplified Strategic Planning” was presented by
American experts using audio-video techniques to aid decision makers from the
participating institutions to evaluate the concept of distance learning and
prospects of adopting it in their organisations.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the RSS. Under
the agreement, the GDLC will provide professional development training through
distance learning using state-of-the-art multimedia.
The MoU requires the two organisations to work towards enhancing the adoption of
“professional development courses in Jordanian companies and organisations.”
These courses, more than 200, will be viewed through a programme coordinated
between the GDLC and RSS.
Under the agreement, the society will provide facilities for its US partner to
establish a distance learning campus in Jordan to serve the entire region in the
second phase of the project, RSS sources said.
The US corporation, in turn, will handle marketing and conduct the learning
process.
The first phase will be limited to providing personnel in companies and
organisations with knowledge and professional training through multimedia. The
courses are offered on CD-ROM and video formats.
Sources at GDLC said the certificates issued by the universities and
organisations involved in the project for distance learning students will be
totally authentic as regular studies in line with the Jordanian higher education
law, which does not recognise certificates obtained through correspondence
courses in their traditional sense.
A source at the Higher Education Ministry told The Jordan Times that distance
learning via multimedia, like the example of the Arab Open University, is
totally acceptable according to local laws. The type of external studies that is
not entails individual study of specified textbooks and end-of-year exams at
universities that offer such programmes, without lectures and faculty-student
interaction.
GDLC is due to organise another seminar at RSS on June 26 to discuss “Total
Leadership Teamwork and Self-Discipline.”