São Paulo – The Jordanian professor Mustafa Nasereddin will be one of the lecturers at the 8th International GUIDE Conference – Science and Technology, Management and Quality: the future of distance education in Brazil and around the world. The event will take place from the 19th to the 21st this month at the Tiradentes University in Aracaju, Sergipe.
The conference is held by Global Universities In Distance Education (Guide), an association established in 2005 by Italy’s Marconi University to foster the development of e-learning at universities.
“Distance learning is a chance for everyone to study, including the people who cannot attend an university because they cannot afford it or travel. They can study at home or in their jobs. It is democracy in education,” said Nasereddin in a telephone interview to ANBA.
The holder of a degree in Computer Engineering, Nasereddin is the CEO of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, a Jordan-based conglomerate offering services in areas such as distance learning, corporate governance, legal services, accounting and others. He is also the International Relations director for Guide.
The executive notes that although there are still misgivings when it comes to the quality of distance learning, the contents of these courses are usually prepared by professors who teach classes at universities. “It’s not simply about videos,” says Nasereddin regarding the online lessons.
He explains that the ministries of education in Arab countries do not recognize all online courses yet. “They recognize courses from the top 500 universities in the world, such as Harvard, for instance. We are working on having them recognize all of them,” he asserted.
According to Nasereddin, the costs of an online course from a world-class university may not be much cheaper than an onsite course, but students save money because they don’t need to incur the expenses campus living or travel.
According to the specialist, in the Arab countries, online courses are being offered by universities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, but it will “take some time” before the modality becomes widespread in the region.
In addition to Nasereddin, the event in Aracaju will also feature specialists from the United States, Italy, Argentina, Poland, Mexico, India, Venezuela, Austria, Turkey, Spain, Colombia, United Kingdom, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Nigeria, Canada and Portugal.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
