RIYADH, 8 March 2006 — Britain plans to link Saudi students with their counterparts in other countries and United Kingdom through the Internet.
“Communication between Saudi students and school children in other parts of the globe will help them build cultural understanding,” Dominic J.S. Savage, chairman of the visiting British delegation told Arab News yesterday.
Cultural understanding he thought was the need of the hour and added that modern technology could assist the school-going population achieve a better global understanding.
A 12-member team from British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) is in the Kingdom to meet Saudi educational contacts to identify where UK educational supplies industry could work in partnership with Saudi educational providers.
Savage said that the aim of this mission was to introduce Saudi educators to a style of 21st century education that could be delivered — using appropriate — technology into classrooms and at homes.
“The Internet is a marvelous tool to assist learning when used in the right way,” he said.
He saw his task as introducing the systems and methodologies which would help children to extend what they did in schools and to enable them to do additional work at home.
“It is time to rethink our system of education in terms of modern technology and redesign the curriculum to keep pace with the changing times,” he emphasized.
Savage described the delegation as a mixture of British companies “connected with information communication technology at school and college level education.” Several offered training and consultancy services and others who produced equipment and solutions for teaching engineering and technical subjects.
To cater to the Kingdom’s interest to upgrade the skills of its young, he said some companies were offering a complete package for vocational training which was proven successful in other countries in the region. One company delivered a complete technical institute in Sharjah and a similar facility in Qatar.
Sir Cowper-Coles was interested in delivering education both through advanced information technology and information communication technology and vocational training colleges working closely with General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT).
“There is a great deal of enthusiasm among the visiting delegates and their Saudi counterparts about the new proposals in its first phase. It is a long journey and needs a lot of work done.”
The ambassador said that there were 3,000 full-time Saudi students at British universities and colleges and 8,000 young Saudis go there yearly for short courses.
An average of 100,000 Saudis visit Britain every summer; most are on five-year entry visas to the United Kingdom.
