Dr Ismail Ghita, School of Education and Ms Marion Sheridan, School of Humanities, have recently returned from Al-Jouf University, Saudi Arabia, where they facilitated two staff development programmes comprised of professors, working in multi-disciplinary teams, from the Faculties of Health, Science and Humanities.  

Dr Ghita and Ms Sheridan were responding to a request, made possible through a collaborative agreement with Al-Jouf, to assist their Quality Assurance Department’s approach to raising the level of education and learning for their university students.  The programme, supported by materials generated through Strathclyde’s Organisation and Staff Development Unit, examined and explored theoretical and practical approaches to evaluating current courses and the creation and development of new course designs.

Participants were particularly inspired by the blended learning methods introduced on the programme. Having been motivated by the CPD programme, faculty staff in Al-Jouf have taken the opportunity to implement some of these teaching and learning approaches reporting positive responses from their students. These results contribute to Al-Jouf ‘s commitment to build outstanding academic programmes in line with international standards and national requirements.

Pictured with Ismail and Marion is Dr Alruwaili, Dean for Quality & Academic Accreditation Al-Jouf University, Saudi Arabia