New E-Learning Portal Promises to Help Saudis Land a Dream Job

Learn anytime, anywhere, on any device: that’s the idea behind Saudi Arabia’s promising new e-learning platform, which aims to bridge the gap between education and employment in the Arab world.

The result of a partnership between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and edX, the platform does not yet have a name but claims a definite success: in the country with the third fastest growing rate of Internet traffic and the most avid Youtube viewers in the world, online learning seems nothing but suited for impact.

Known as MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses), web platforms for collaborative education have recently taken off in the Middle East, pioneered by Skillacademy and Edraak, which offer top-level courses developed at institutions such as HarvardX, MITX, and UC BerkelyX.

The platform aims to launch its first courses in September 2014 with a pilot program for Saudi women, youth, the disabled, and rural communities to learn the necessary skills to secure a job, The Saudi Gazette reported. It will offer both courses from edX university members translated into Arabic, as well as original ones developed from scratch in Arabic.

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