Secretary of the Gulf Committee for E-Learning in Universities Emphasizes Importance of Measuring Impact of Modern Technologies on Education Quality

Dr. Abdullah Al-Mutawa, Secretary of the Committee of E-Learning Officials at Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) universities and higher education institutions, emphasized the importance of transitioning from the phase of adopting modern technologies to the phase of measuring their actual impact on the quality of education, student experience, and the efficiency of educational institutions.

This statement was made by Al-Mutawa, who also serves as Deputy Director General for Academic Support Services at Kuwait University, in an interview with the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), following his chairing of the 25th meeting of the committee. The meeting was hosted by Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, with participation from representatives of universities and higher education institutions in GCC member states, to discuss the future of digital education and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives.

Al-Mutawa stressed the necessity of transforming GCC cooperation into joint initiatives and projects with clear, measurable outcomes, by moving from the stage of technology usage to proving its impact on all aspects of educational quality. He highlighted the importance of achieving efficiency-based e-learning, micro-electronic qualifications, automation of education and student information systems, and the development of digital programs. He also emphasized the role of AI in proactively identifying academic difficulties, as well as in professional development and instructional design in the age of AI.

Furthermore, Al-Mutawa affirmed the committee’s commitment to guiding GCC educational institutions from the experimental phase to institutional integration. He noted the importance of converting the numerous successful initiatives and experiences within individual GCC universities into shared GCC knowledge that can be utilized, developed, and built upon.

Regarding the meeting’s key recommendations, Al-Mutawa stated that the GCC Repository of Practices in AI for Higher Education was adopted to make available related policies, guidelines, experiences, initiatives, and training programs concerning e-learning and AI. He added that a GCC working group was established to “study the impact of AI agents on automating higher education on educational quality and to provide a framework for enhancing the efficiency of actual educational processes.” The group includes members from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.

In his address to the meeting, Al-Mutawa emphasized building on the outcomes of the previous meeting in Riyadh, which discussed ways to handle rapid AI transformations and how to consolidate its use in educational institutions through dimensions related to strategy, governance, cybersecurity, data protection and privacy, ethical use, and the idea of developing a unified GCC language model that serves education and reflects our cultural and linguistic specificity. He also stressed the importance of moving from using isolated tools to building interconnected educational systems, and from asking about the use of technology itself to asking about its impact on humans, education, and society.

He expressed hope that the Muscat meeting would yield good recommendations and several initiatives framed by practical and time-bound schedules, equipped with indicators to measure achievements and realized impact, so that the committee could become a “GCC platform for producing joint initiatives.” He expressed gratitude and appreciation to the officials at Sultan Qaboos University for hosting the meeting, particularly the university president, Dr. Fahd Al-Saaid, and looked forward to the meeting’s outcomes contributing to forming a shared GCC vision for the future of e-learning and digital education.

For his part, Salem Al-Waili, Director of the Educational Technology Center at Sultan Qaboos University, emphasized in his speech the importance of strengthening cooperation frameworks and joint coordination among higher education institutions in GCC states, and enhancing the exchange of expertise, experiences, and practices in e-learning. This, he noted, would contribute to keeping pace with rapid developments in technology and digital transformation, and support efforts to build a more integrated and innovative educational system.

Al-Waili added that the world of knowledge is undergoing rapid and unprecedented transformation, explaining that e-learning “is no longer just a means of delivering educational content, but has become an integrated system where digital technologies, data analysis, artificial intelligence, and adaptive learning intersect, opening new horizons toward more flexible, personalized, and responsive education that meets each student’s needs.”

He stressed the necessity of having a clear institutional vision and proactive plans that anticipate the future, define priorities, and build human and technical capacities. This requires clear governance of e-learning processes and AI use, ensuring the quality of outputs, data security, student privacy, integrity of the educational process, and the responsible use of modern technologies.