JOHOR BAHRU, 1 nOVEMBER 2016 – The Centre for Engineering Education (CEE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has been appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Afghanistan to assist in modernizing higher education in the country.
CEE Director Prof. Dr. Khairiyah Mohd Yusof said, the project under the World Bank aims to provide training to Afghan higher education staff, especially in Outcome-Based Education (OBE) and Student-Centred Learning (SCL).
“Senior Education Specialist, World Bank, Kurt Larsen contacted me in 2015 to seek me and my colleagues’ expertise to design various training and development programmes to develop Afghan lecturers to become pioneers in the OBE and SCL in the country.
“One of the aims of this project entitled “Modernizing Higher Education of Afghanistan” is to produce champions in OBE and SCL among Afghan lecturers so they can change the landscape of higher education in Afghanistan,” she said.
Prof. Dr. Khairiyah said, from among the lecturers, 24 excellent ones were selected to continue their training at UTM to become champions and trainers on OBE and SCL.
The series of training arranged for them between 25 October 2016 and 5 November 2016 include OBE, SCL, Assessment, Active Learning, Cooperative Learning, e-Learning and Blended Learning.
“It is projected that by 2017, at least 150 champions on OBE and SCL can be produced among the Afghan lecturers,” she cited.
During the same period, the Afghan delegates toured around the UTM campus to witness the teaching and learning facilities at UTM such as the Raja Zarith Sofia Library, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Civil Engineering, the Faculty of Computing, the Faculty of Bioscience and Medical Engineering and research centres.
“They also met UTM Vice Chancellor Datuk Prof. Dr. Wahid Omar to discuss the opportunity to further their studies at UTM which was also a part of the World Bank project.
“As a result, UTM and Ministry of Higher Education Afghanistan will proceed to generate a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the collaboration between them,” she explained.