The “Mishkat Al-Arabiya” hall at the headquarters of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) hosted the ceremony of distributing certificates to university teachers and students participating in the 1st and 2nd sessions of the Programme for Development of Open Education at Member Universities of the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW) affiliated to ICESCO, which aims to build the capacity of teachers in using open education resources and tools and integrating them in university curricula.

The ceremony kicked off on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, with a recorded speech by Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General (DG) and FUIW Secretary General, in which he commended the Programme for the Development of Open Education and open education resources, which included a series of intensive training sessions, praising the two editions held in 2022, for the benefit of 85 participants from 17 countries, representing more than 60 universities.

Dr. AlMalik added that the Programme for the Development of Open Education comes as part of ICESCO’s vision and strategy to contribute to the development of education in Islamic countries and to strengthen its tools, to find a sustainable engine for the development of open education skills, curricula and strategies and to contribute to bridging the gap between universities, meeting the needs of students and learners and increasing their chances of integration into the labor market and tomorrow’s professions.

Following that, Dr. Khaled Berrada, Professor at Mohammed V University in Rabat and one of the supervisors of the programme, reviewed FUIW Member Universities’ partnership in the field of open educational resources and highlighted the challenges that each beneficiary had to overcome to successfully complete the session. For his part, Dr. Daniel Burgos, Vice Rector of the International University of La Rioja of Research and Technology in Spain and one of the supervisors of the programme, indicated that the practical application of the methods and tools of open education resources begins with recognizing the benefits of such resources.

After that, the certificates were distributed to the beneficiaries of the two sessions, who, during their interventions, commended the programme and its importance and potential to keep up with the evolution of the educational process in universities around the world.

In conclusion, Dr. Omar Halli, Advisor to ICESCO DG for the FUIW, reaffirmed the need to develop the programme, through cooperation with more universities and educational institutions, and encourage its beneficiaries to disseminate knowledge and experiences and supervise sessions, explaining the importance of exploring new methods to obtain and create information from open sources.