Dr Ahmad M Hasnah, president of HBKU, and Dr Anant Agarwal, founder and CEO of edX and MIT professor, announced the partnership at an official signing ceremony in Boston.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the edX Global Forum, held November 15-16.
The annual gathering brings together edX’s partner network of senior leaders and digital learning innovators from the world’s leading universities and organisations to share knowledge, exchange ideas and collectively design the future of education.
Dr Hasnah said: “We invite students from across the globe to take advantage of innovative ways of accessing knowledge, both of which will provide an unprecedented opportunity for working professionals to advance their careers.”
“With innovation being a key objective of HBKU, we believe that this partnership with edX will enable us to bridge knowledge dissemination and allow the global community to benefit from unique offerings, which complement existing programs on the edX learning platform and remain mindful of pressing global challenges. As an ever-evolving sector, education has in recent years taken on new forms that go beyond the limitations of the conventional classroom setting.”
Prof Agarwal said: “Both edX and HBKU share a mission to increase access to high-quality education for all learners, everywhere, in fields that tackle the challenges society faces at a global level. These include the need to identify new and innovative ways to provide sustainable energy, which is addressed in HBKU’s professional certificate programme. It was a delight to host Dr Hasnah at our Global Forum this year and we look forward to furthering our partnership in the future.”
HBKU’s agreement with edX underscores its commitment to pursuing local and international collaborations to promote a truly global educational experience and breaks down academic silos.
Through its various strategic partnerships, the University aims to make quality academic research programmes and courses accessible to students in Qatar and the rest of the world.
The first programme ‘Solar Energy in Hot Desert Climates’ offered by HBKU on the edX platform focuses on advancing sustainable energy and combating global warming.
“This programme reflects HBKU’s commitment to addressing local grand challenges that have a global impact. The launch of this programme is timely and responds to the urgency called by the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report which highlighted the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C,“ said Dr Hasnah.
Prospective students can now enrol for HBKU’s Professional Certificate programme on edX, which will commence on January 7, 2019.
To register for the programme, applicants can visit https://www.edx.org/school/hbkux
