On July 4th, 2024, a delegation from the UNESCO Doha Office for Gulf States and Yemen (UNESCO Doha Office) and Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman, visited the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (Shenzhen, China) (UNESCO-ICHEI). Visitors include Mr. Salah Khaled, Director of the UNESCO Doha Office for Gulf States and Yemen, Dr. Anasse Bouhlal, Regional Programme Specialist for Higher Education and TVET, UNESCO Doha Office for Gulf States and Yemen, and Dr. Hamdan Al Farazi, President of Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman. Prof. LI Ming, Secretary-General, International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) Secretariat, UNESCO-ICHEI, Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, and other representatives of UNESCO-ICHEI discussed potential collaborations with the delegation. Ms. LONG Jing, Deputy Director of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Global, and other representatives of SUSTech also participated in the meeting.

Group Photo

Meeting Photo

Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI, welcomed the delegation’s visit, thanked them for their active cooperation, hoped that the cooperation between the UNESCO-ICHEI and UNESCO Doha Office could support and promote the development of higher education institutions in the Arab region, and expressed the hope to establish cooperation with Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman to carry out projects. Mr. Salah Khaled, Director of the UNESCO Doha Office for Gulf States and Yemen, thanked the UNESCO-ICHEI for its warm and friendly reception, introduced the situation of the seven Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries covered by the UNESCO Doha Office, expressed that higher education in many countries in the Arab region is undergoing rapid transformation, and invited the UNESCO-ICHEI to participate in a series of international conferences related to the digitization of higher education to be held in the Middle East by the Doha Office. Dr. Hamdan Al Farazi, President of Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman, introduced the development of various majors in the university and welcomed more Chinese students to study at the university.

Ms. BI Xiaohan, Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI

Mr. Salah Khaled, Director of the UNESCO Doha Office for Gulf States and Yemen

Dr. Hamdan Al Farazi, President of Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman

UNESCO-ICHEI introduced its partner network, the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE), IIOE Micro-Certification Programme, Smart Classroom, and other key projects to the delegation, as well as past cooperation with universities in the Arab region. SUSTech Global introduced the progress of education and international student enrollment. Dr. Anasse Bouhlal, Regional Programme Specialist for Higher Education and TVET, UNESCO Doha Office for Gulf States and Yemen, emphasized the development of professional capabilities of university teachers and the importance of higher education digital transformation in the Arab region, and hoped to cooperate with the UNESCO-ICHEI in the capacity building of higher education teachers, regional research, and joint organization of international conferences in the Arab region. Prof. LI Ming, Secretary-General, the International Institute of Online Education (IIOE) Secretariat, UNESCO-ICHEI, said that the Arab region is currently the focus of UNESCO-ICHEI to expand cooperation. The UNESCO-ICHEI mainly hopes to carry out corresponding cooperation with the UNESCO Doha Office in three aspects, including national and regional digital transformation policy support, empowering digital leadership in universities, and empowering university teachers, to promote more universities in the Arab region to join the IIOE network and promote higher education digital transformation in the Arab region.

Prof. LI Ming, Secretary-General of IIOE Secretariat

The participants discussed and reached consensus on cooperation in multiple fields, such as digital capacity building for higher education teachers in the Arab region, regional research on digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, international conferences related to the integration of artificial intelligence and higher education, Smart Classrooms, and school-enterprise cooperation projects. UNESCO-ICHEI will sign a letter of intent for cooperation with the UNESCO Doha Office to comprehensively strengthen institutional cooperation.

Prof. LI Ming, Secretary-General of IIOE Secretariat (Left) and Mr. Salah Khaled,

Director of the UNESCO Doha Office for Gulf States and Yemen (Right)

Prof. LI Ming, Secretary-General of IIOE Secretariat (Left) and Dr. Hamdan Al Farazi,

President of Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman (Right)

On the same day, the delegation of UNESCO Doha Office and Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman visited the IIOE AI Laboratory, SUSTech campus, and UNESCO-ICHEI partner enterprise Wenxiang Technology.

Delegation visited the IIOE AI Lab

Delegation visited the Wenxiang Technology