Establishment of the Academic Excellence Unit at IUG (i.e. University pedagogy unit) is one of the main goals of the eTraining FinPal project. The first steps towards reaching this goal were taken on 28.2.2018 by opening a computer classroom at IUG that will be used for organizing the online training on university pedagogy.
The computer classroom was officially opened by Prof. Dr. Salem Hellis, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Mohammed Al-Hanjouri, Dean of Quality and Planning, and Dr. Nazmi Al-Masri, Project Director at IUG. A group of university staff and students attended the ceremony together with members of the IUG project team, Prof. Dr. Alyan Holy, Prof. Dr. Bassam Saqqa, Dr. Ayman Al-Sakka, and Ms. Azza Al-Sahar.
In his opening speech, Prof. Hellis pointed out the importance of the eTraining FinPal project in improving the quality of educational process in IUG and expressed his appreciation for the great efforts and work of the project teams. He noted that IUG academics representing all disciplines will take part in the online training developed cooperatively based on Finnish experiences and expertise in the field of education.
Dr. Masri explained that the three-year project is a result of a partnership with Higher Education in Transition research group at University of Tampere, adding that the computer classroom will benefit the whole university community and improve pedagogical competences of IUG teaching staff.
In his recorded speech, Dr. Vesa Korhonen, Project Coordinator at the University of Tampere, emphasised the importance of the computer classroom for pedagogical development of the IUG academic staff. On behalf of UTA project team, he congratulated IUG for opening the computer classroom and expressed his gratitude to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland that funds the project through its Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI).
Video from the Opening ceremony at IUG 28.2.2018
