Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has become the major reason for the growing impact of distance learning in all educational levels worldwide. The momentous shift from face-to-face to online learning model has significantly influenced the global educational system, and it took a lot of time and effort for the students and teachers to adapt to the new reality. However, the fact that remote learning was implemented at the end of the academic 2019-2020 year gave most countries time to change and modernize the system at the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year (KPMG, 2020). It is necessary to mention that the system of online education is still transforming in order to provide the students with high-quality and up-to-date knowledge at all levels, from school to higher education institutions. The excellence of education is one of the key indicators of the vitality of the system in a particular country. European Excellence Model helps assess the performance of a particular institution and measure its strengths and weaknesses, as well as to distinguish the areas for further improvement and modernization.
Literature Review
KPMG (2020). Higher education in the UAE. KPMG. Web.
The article focuses on the excellence in higher education in terms of distance or online learning and several aspects that help establish it. The first and the most important one of them concerns the technological equipment and access to the Internet since it is impossible to perform online education without them. Then come learning technologies relevant for distance learning, such as IT competence of the staff and effective communication skills. In addition, the educational institution should have teams of IT professionals who are ready to support the teaching staff and the students in case of emergency (KPMG, 2020). These are the key factors that guarantee the efficacy and excellence of distance learning, and they should be carefully observed by educational institutions at all levels.
Mehkri, I. A. (2017). The UAE is an oasis for higher learning. Khaleej Times.
The two articles give a detailed description of the higher education system that exists in the UAE. The country is one of the most quickly developing estates in the world, and its digital infrastructure is one of the most developed in the world nowadays. That is why the country has a lot of opportunities for the successful implementation and realization of online education. E-learning alongside e-business and e-government is one of the top priorities for the government of the UAE, especially in the current situation with the spread of the COVID-19 (Maxwell, 2022). The education sphere, in general, is greatly developed in Dubai, making the country the most suitable one for getting higher education in the region (Mehkri, 2017). Modern technologies and openness to innovations make the sphere develop and adapt to the situation in the world really fast.
Distance learning in times of COVID-19 (2021). The United Arab Emirates Government portal.
The article describes the state of things in the educational system of the UAE during the pandemic. The UAE has a lot of educational institutions of higher education of different specializations, and all of them have worked online since March 2020. Since the system has experienced several changes and the majority of them were implemented to ensure the same excellence in online education as offline education had. The most significant measures that were taken up in UAE to make the system of online learning reliable and beneficial for all the participants concern the development of the IT competence in teachers and students (Distance learning in times of COVID-19, 2021). Apart from that, the government launched smart learning platforms, conducted online professional training for teachers and administrators, and established operation centers that were to monitor the educational process.
eLearning, mLearning and distance learning (2021). The United Arab Emirates Government portal.
These two articles are united by the same topic. Both of them describe the eLearning system that exists in the UAE nowadays. For instance, some higher education institutions, such as Hamdan Mohammed Smart University, offer online educational programs for bachelor’s or master’s degrees (eLearning, mLearning, and distance learning, 2021). The sphere of online education in the United Arab Emirates continues to expand and grow, though some institutions are currently implementing the hybrid model of education (Bardsley, 2021). Such organization of the teaching-learning process will enable the teachers to keep up with the times and changes without forgetting the skills of face-to-face education. A strong and developed system of online education will help the UAE engage more foreign students and create a reputation as a country that cherishes changes.Since UAE welcomes the changes and modernizations and values its reputation as a country with well-developed education institutions, it is logical to suppose that online education will have the same excellence as offline one.
CETL (n.d.). About CETL.
Promoting emerging educational technologies and proper education of the teaching personnel are among the key factors of providing excellence in education. Present article describes an institution called the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) that exists in the UAE. The main aims of CETL are the establishment and support of the online and blended education courses as well as the implementation of smart learning technologies into the educational process (CETL, n.d.). This institution guarantees the quality of online education since experienced tutors and specialists guide students who are trained in accordance with the norms and rules of online education. Thus, they have chances of not only becoming good and experienced teachers but also of being able to teach students both online and offline.
The University of Southern California (2018). Definition of excellence in teaching. USC Faculty Portal.
The article explains the criteria that should be taken into account when speaking about excellence in education. First of all, it is necessary to assess the knowledge and professionalism of the educator. Thus, a teacher should be polite and respectful with the students as well as demonstrate not only his skills and experience but appropriate behavior as well (USC, 2018). Apart from that, professors should support their students but not focus on their mistakes too much. Encouraging creativity and students’ initiative by the teacher also contribute to excellence in education. In addition, the educator should provide an open and safe learning environment as well as give his students relevant and evidence-based knowledge on the subject. Excellence in education is also defined by the lack of personal bias and prejudices from both the teacher’s and the student’s sides.
All the criteria listed above may be considered universal since they indicate excellence in both online and offline education. When speaking about online education, it is possible to add several specific indicators typical of the distant learning process. They concern the IT competence of the teachers and students, access to the Internet, the availability of all the necessary technical equipment for all participants of the educational process (KPMG, 2020). These factors show whether a particular educational institution as well as the staff working there are competent and possess enough knowledge and skills to conduct classes and lectures online.
Excellence in higher education is sometimes confused with quality assurance since both phenomena have similar definitions. In order to distinguish them from each other, it is necessary to compare their meanings. Excellence in higher education is achieved through the use of inclusive and evidence-based teaching methods and techniques that cherish and encourage knowledge and skills that help students adapt to the fast-changing reality.
Bucky, J. (2020). What is quality assurance? The Balance Small Business.
The article describes the notion of quality assurance. It is typical of the business field, though the term is highly used in other areas. It concerns the process of confirmation that a particular institution or business provides the customers with high-quality services that meet all the necessary requirements and standards (Bucki, 2020). The process of quality assurance includes planning, fulfilling, and monitoring activities that enable the specialist to establish the quality of services or goods and find any violations if there are any. Planning, fulfilling, and monitoring the activities of the teachers and students contribute to better academic performance without violating the educational standards (USC, 2018). Hence, it is possible to say that excellence may be achieved through observing teaching-learning rules and guiding principles which may be considered quality assurance.
Nadaf, Z. A. (2019). Achieving excellence in higher education. Review of Education, 7(1), 63-80.
The article is devoted to the excellence in higher education. The author promotes the idea that it is not limited by the process of students getting knowledge. It also regards the research activities of a particular higher education institution since the topics and methods of the research show the competence of people who conduct it as well as the relevance of knowledge and fact an institution possesses (Nadaf, 2019). Thus, it is important for universities to carefully and accordingly organize not only the educational process but the research activities as well in order to establish teaching excellence.
Conclusion
Taking into account all mentioned above, it is possible to conclude that the excellence in distance learning in higher education in the United Arab Emirates is high. The majority of the country’s educational institutions meet the requirements of the European Excellence Model of higher education in online learning that claims inclusive and evidence-based teaching techniques as key indicators of excellence. The UAE is the most developed and prestigious country in the region when it comes to the sphere of higher education since it possesses all the necessary knowledge and technologies that help effectively organize the educational process. Such focus on the sphere of online education and training of the educators makes it clear that the excellence in distance learning in higher education in UAE is paid close attention to by the government and citizens.