Queen Rania Foundation Launches Edraak, a MOOC Portal for the Arab World
Anant Agarwal, edX CEO | 05.19.2014This past November, we were honored to host Her Majesty Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan and the Queen Rania Foundation at the edX offices to announce our partnership to work together to increase access to education and opportunity for the Arab world. This week our shared goal became a reality with the launch of Edraak, the first not-for-profit Arab platform for MOOCs aimed at bringing world-class education to millions of Arab-speaking learners around the globe.
Powered by the Open edX platform, Edraak will deliver high quality online education from the best Arab instructors, regional academic institutions as well as Arabic-translated courses from prestigious university from around the world, like Harvard and MIT with more to come.
At the launch ceremony today, Queen Rania said “the world around us is speeding toward a future where ideas, knowledge and skills are the founding blocks of prosperity, while we drift at the bottom of global rankings in terms of knowledge, and in terms of how and what we produce. Transformative shifts usually happen when need and opportunity meet. We desperately need quality education, and online learning is our opportunity.”
With the Queen Rania Foundation, we share the belief in the transformational power of education. We are honored to be a part of Edraak that will open up a world of possibility for intellectually hungry Arab youth and Arab-speaking students worldwide.
Congratulations, Edraak and the Queen Rania Foundation. We are honored to work with you to reach global leaners and empower Arabic-speaking students through education. Read the original post.