ABU DHABI—At a convention on digital universities that opened right here on Monday, audio system explored subjects like what universities will seem like within the aftermath of Covid-19 and the digital change it accelerated in greater training, and the way prepared universities within the Center East and North Africa are for a full transition to digital studying.

The three-day convention, known as THE Digital Universities MENA 2022, was organized by the British firm Occasions Larger Schooling and co-hosted by Khalifa College of Science and Expertise.

Audio system agreed that “school educating won’t ever be the identical once more” after the Covid-19 pandemic and that “there is no such thing as a going again” to earlier strategies absolutely.

Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, training minister of the United Arab Emirates, described the pandemic as “a blessing in disguise” as a result of it thrust universities virtually in a single day into digital training.

“That push made everyone extra open to digital training, together with regulators, college students and college,” Falasi stated in a gap speech. Earlier than Covid, he stated, his ministry had been methods to permit for 10 p.c or 20 p.c of instruction to be by way of digital training throughout the Emirates, however the introduction of the pandemic compelled one hundred pc digitalization.

Falasi known as for rethinking educating methodologies, stressing that on-line training might be supplementary to on-premise trade between college students and instructors.

“Core training continues to be, from my standpoint, predominantly class-based, bodily training. By having the selection of on-line studying, one misses out on a very powerful a part of the method, which is interacting with professors and classmates, and constructing a community,” Falasi stated. “We’ve to seek out what the suitable answer is.”

A Catalyst for Innovation

Phil Baty, chief data officer at Occasions Larger Schooling, praised the higher-education sector, which he stated has proven within the final two and a half years implausible resilience, nice agility and, most of all, innovation.