AMMAN, 28 June 2007 — Jordanian Queen Rania Abdallah and Prince Talal, chairman of the board of trustees of the Arab Open University, laid the cornerstone of the new AOU campus in Amman, in the presence of government officials, businessmen, academics, members of the international media, and AOU students, a report said yesterday.
Prince Talal also launched the university’s fund-raising campaign, the fruits of which will chiefly be used for purpose-built buildings, improved Internet facilities and Arab world-tailored course materials. The AOU currently has six branches — in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon — and one in Oman is due to open in September. Currently, over 22,000 students are enrolled at the university, which is headquartered in Kuwait.
The AOU, established in 2002, held its first graduation ceremony on March 5, 2007, at the Sheraton Hotel, Kuwait. As many as 526 students received a variety of degrees and diplomas from the faculties of language studies, education, business studies and computer studies.
Of the 218 honors students, 177 were from Kuwait, 25 from Lebanon, 11 from Jordan, three from Saudi Arabia and two from Bahrain. Overall, 49 percent of the current graduates are female and nearly 40 percent over the age of 24.
The AOU is closely associated with the UK Open University, thus enabling students to graduate with an Arab Open University degree and that of the UKOU, an internationally recognized UK degree. The AOU recently received full accreditation and validation from the “Open University Validation Services” for the second time and is the first university in the Arab world to obtain such a status from a worldwide organization.
The AOU, a nonprofit-making open learning university, is an initiative of its parent body, AGFUND (Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations), and its headquarters are in Kuwait. It provides blended distance learning facilities for Arab students, irrespective of geographical location, gender, age or any other physical limitation.
The AOU’s learning method combines traditional learning with innovative digital technology and 25 percent of the students’ learning is face-to-face.
