Lending virtual university a helping hand

The UAE's leading IT organisation has contributed to the establishment of the first accredited virtual university in the Middle East.

Emirates Computers has implemented the knowledge management solutions at the Syrian Virtual University (SVU).

The project was initiated by the Ministry of Higher Education in Syria, which recently completed the establishment of what is reportedly the first accredited virtual university in the Middle East.
The pioneering initiative is aimed at furthering the cause of the online education movement in the region.

Dr Milad Fares Sebaaly, Chair-man and Assistant Professor, Department of Information Technology, American University in Dubai, is the central force behind the project.

He is also General Manager, Global Information Systems, the Lebanese consulting firm designing the entire concept, in addition to implementing and running it for the first three years.

"We have undertaken this initiative in order to create enhanced educational opportunities for the Arab world and to address the needs of students targeting higher education through the Internet," said Dr Sebaaly. "Lifelong learning is essential to healthy and sustainable socio-economic growth and development, as literacy and education are the pillars of civilisation and the key to global prosperity in the 21st century.

"It is imperative then, that this facility of education should be available to all, regardless of limitations of age, finance or distance."

The SVU aims to cut across all physical barriers to be the leader in this quest for regional and social improvement, he added.

"The SVU provides new technologies and teaching methods to ensure that the education process is constantly updated and on par with international educational programmes. Our objective is to provide the existing workforce and the graduates in the Arab world with the latest university programmes."

He pointed out such programmes are vital for the growth and transformation of existing conventional economies into knowledge-based economies.

Hani Harik, President, Emirates Computers, noted a strong requirement for world-class education has always existed in the Middle East, the pursuit of which has led many youth to travel abroad.

"However, with this initiative, the Syrian Virtual University aims to provide students from the Middle East with superlative educational facilities in the comfort of their own homes," he pointed out.

"We have utilised state-of-the-art technology, where Livelink from Open Text is the core engine for knowledge management and collaboration of the different functionalities required to ensure the smooth running of the virtual university."

The solution is built on Open Text workflow capabilities, which enable universities, professors and students to share information and expand possibilities. It also includes design and development of the website with provision for English, Arabic and French.

Emirates Computers will now focus on adding to the knowledge content of the SVU site by implementing additional Open Text modules.

Support service includes guidance and review of back-up and housekeeping procedures, guidance and assistance on application analysis, feasibility study, as well as development and use.

Additional tasks the company tackled included setting up user and password security tables, recommending procedures for password protection, rebuilding of data files due to loss of software or data as a result of non-compliance, routine back-up, disk crashes and unauthorised access.

Established in 1978, the company's services today range from mobile communication devices to advanced supercomputers; from small LANs to integrated, multimedia WANs; and from internally developed bilingual applications to enterprise-wide management and decision support systems.