The Open University (the OU) hosted the (pandemic-delayed) bi-annual partnership conference with The Arab Open University (the AOU) at the OU’s campus in Milton Keynes, which coincides with twenty years of this valued educational partnership. At the two-day summit, senior leaders discussed further ways to strengthen their partnership through innovation in teaching, curriculum development and collaborations in research.
The AOU is a non-profit institution operating in nine countries across the Middle East and North Africa with over 30,000 students currently registered on OU-validated degree programmes enabling them to receive a dual award – one from the AOU and one from the OU. To date, more than 48,000 students have graduated with an OU-award, with 56% of the conferred students being women.
The partnership goes back to 2002 when the AOU was set up to improve access to higher and continuing education, irrespective of age, gender, income, geographical location and employment across the Arab region. The AOU’s social mission is closely aligned with the OU’s, and through this collaboration, the OU has been able to promote its mission to widen access in education on a global scale. The OU currently validates 11 programmes in business, computing, education and language studies, all delivered by a flexible distance-learning model and quality assured by the OU.
Professor Kevin Shakesheff, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at The Open University, said:
“The partnership between the OU and the AOU demonstrates the very best in international educational collaboration. Our 20-year partnership has enabled almost 50,000 students to graduate with a dual award, enabling their qualification to be recognised around the world.
I’m excited about the further opportunities to strengthen our partnership through furthering our international research collaborations, curriculum development and innovation in learning technologies.”
Professor Mohammed Al-Zakari, President of The Arab Open University in the Arab World, said:
“It was a great opportunity to be here at the OU to celebrate the long-standing and fruitful partnership of our two Universities, the AOU and the OU, that commenced 20 years ago. Since its inception, our collaboration has enabled us to learn from each other and to make significant advances in the domains of teaching, learning and assessments.
This conference has further strengthened our already strong relationship and has resulted in generating innovative ideas and initiatives that will enhance our academic and research collaboration.”
