Ahlia University
and SunGard Higher Education Convene 2nd Annual Bahrain Higher Education Executive
Forum
Higher Education Leaders discuss the
Role of ICT in Building a Knowledge Economy
MANAMA, Bahrain — May 3, 2010 — Ahlia
University
and SunGard Higher Education, held the second annual Bahrain Higher Education
Executive Forum themed, “Building a
Smarter ICT Infrastructure for Higher Education.” More than 100 academics and education leaders
representing Bahrain’s
higher education sector attended the event organized under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Majid Bin Ali Al Nuaimi,
Minister of Education and Chairman of Higher Education Council, Bahrain.
The gathering of
higher education leaders was held at The Sheraton Hotel in Manama
to discuss how ICT (Information and Communications Technology) can facilitate
higher education’s essential role in building Bahrain’s knowledge economy to
achieve the Kingdom’s 2030 vision. Keynote
speakers from SunGard Higher Education and Ahlia University
were complemented by guest speakers from the Higher Education Council (HEC) and
the Quality Assurance Authority for Education and Training.
Professor Abdulla
Al-Hawaj, President of Ahlia University, described his institution’s experience
in using ICT to enhance delivery of quality education by meeting the
expectations of young tech-savvy students as well as serving the different
operational needs of the institution efficiently. “We are in an age where knowledge and
technology are perhaps the most important factors of sustainable economic
development. As a knowledge centre, Ahlia University
is committed to building smarter ICT infrastructure to transform our learning
environment. Consequently, Ahlia is
contributing to Bahrain’s
2030 vision by helping to create a knowledge economy.”
Professor Al-Hawaj
added: “We rely on leading global IT vendors like SunGard Higher Education to
provide world class solutions that will help us deliver on our strategic
objectives.”
Other speakers who
shared insights on the role of ICT in higher education and their specific
experiences included Dr. Yousif Al-Basteki, vice president for Administration
and Finance, University
of Bahrain and Mr.
Russell Barron, ICT director Bahrain Polytechnic
During the forum,
SunGard Higher Education highlighted its new Signals solution - an early
intervention system that warns students who are at-risk of underperforming in a
course and helps facilitate faculty interventions. Commenting on the Signals solution, Mathew
Boice, vice president EMEA and India, SunGard Higher Education, said, “This is
one of a number of specific initiatives we have developed to help institutions
enable their learners to achieve their goals, to track academic progress,
increase retention and graduation rates. Signals will be enhanced and brought to higher
education institutions through a joint effort by SunGard Higher Education, Purdue University
and the Purdue Research Foundation. The
collaboration illustrates SunGard Higher Education’s new Open Digital Campus
strategy in action.”
About Ahlia
University
Ahlia University,
the first private University licensed by the Kingdom
of Bahrain, is currently composed of
six colleges - the College of Arts, Science and Education, the College of Business
and Finance, the College of Information Technology, and the College
of Medical and Health Sciences, the College of Graduate Studies
and Research and the College
of Engineering. The University offers programmes of study at
the undergraduate, Master's and doctoral levels.
Ahlia University
has strong affiliation ties with a number of highly reputed and distinguished
institutions in North America, Europe and Asia including Brunel
University, University of
Wisconsin-River Falls, Waseda University and Georgia State
University.
All the professional programmes offered by AU are affiliated
with and have been validated by highly reputable and distinguished leading
university in the UK and USA. AU programmes are also recognized by The
Ministries of Education in the Kingdom
of Bahrain, the State of
Kuwait and Sultanate of Oman. They are
also accredited by Brunel
University and are
certified to be "in accordance with Brunel quality assurance regulations
and the British Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education."
About SunGard Higher Education
SunGard Higher Education serves colleges, universities and
foundations in 40 countries worldwide. Through its Open Digital Campus
strategy, SunGard collaborates with the higher education community and provides
software and services to help institutions find better ways to teach, learn,
manage and connect. www.sungardhe.com
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and
technology services companies. SunGard has more than 20,000 employees and
serves 25,000 customers in 70 countries. SunGard provides software and
processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public
sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services,
information availability consulting services and business continuity management
software. With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 380 on
the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and IT
services company.
Trademark information: SunGard. Open Digital Campus and the
SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems
Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S.
and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.