The article discusses a new education collaboration between the Institute of Education at the University of London and the Centre for Higher Education Research and Studies in Saudi Arabia. Officials from the two institutions met in Riyadh to discuss potential areas of cooperation, including joint research opportunities and faculty and student exchanges. Both sides expressed optimism about the partnership and future collaboration between the two education institutions.

2. In this Editorial ............................................................................................... 1
issue Global luminaries view future of
education at London forum......................................................... 2
Saudi delegation visits British education
show in London ................................................................................ 4
InTouch Newsletter is New education collaboration under consideration ............ 5
compiled by
Strong UK presence at education show.................................. 6
Andrew Mead at
MMSL, Outstanding Cambridge students in
Saudi Arabia to be honoured ...................................................... 8
UK Telephone:
First Springboard Network Forum
0044 7940 55 99 25 held in Riyadh ................................................................................. 10
KSA Telephone: Understanding heritage ............................................................. 12
00966 506 271 151 Inaugural ELT session held in Al-Khobar............................... 13
email: Saudi Changemaker calls on Gordon Brown ....................... 14
Andrew@sbtd.co.uk
Jeddah-Birmingham community ............................................. 15
in co-operation with Visiting language expert gives teaching .............................. 16
Jumana House, Riyadh
Connecting Clasrooms ................................................................ 18
Tel: 01 292 0451
Fax: 01 472 6962 PDSR Programme 2010............................................................... 19
suresh@sbtd.co.uk
New batch of Saudis set for UK ............................................... 19
Printed by Jeddah women’s centre..............................................................20
Star Printing Press,
Saudi students briefed on undergraduate
Tel: 00966 1 241 2297
study in the UK ...............................................................................20
© Copyright of articles and photographs rests with the
British Council Saudi Arabia.

3. Editorial
Dear Friends
Welcome to the latest edition of In Touch. I have now been
back in the Kingdom for five months, and am enjoying it
enormously. I am very grateful to colleagues, friends and
contacts for their friendship and the work we do together.
In January we were delighted to join a senior Saudi
delegation to the Learning & Technology World Forum in
London, the largest educational meeting of its kind in the
world, and the BETT education fair. The delegation was led
by the Vice Minister of Education, HE Faisal Abdulrahman bin
Muamar. The event was opened by the UK’s prime Minister,
and attended by 70 ministers and more than 700 delegates
– who between them are responsible for the education of 1
billion of the world’s children!
We were also delighted to support the International
Exhibition of Higher Education, organised for the first time,
extremely professionally, by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of
Higher Education. 67 British universities took part, which
was the largest of any country, and demonstrates once again
the strength of educational ties between our two countries,
as well as the UK universities commitment to even closer
cooperation.
In March we launched a new project, Global Xchange. We
run this project with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) which
has 50 years experience managing volunteering around
the world. In Saudi Arabia we are delighted to be launching
the project in partnership with Al-Majid Society in Jeddah.
The project will share the UK’s experience and policy for
managing volunteering at a national level, and support an
exchange of community practitioners. Later in the year
young male volunteers from each country will exchange
visits to work on volunteer projects. This exchange will
help build understanding between our two kingdoms,
and, importantly, give young British people a chance to
learn more about Saudi Arabia and share these positive
impressions and experiences in their communities.
I look forward to seeing many of you at these and other
events.
With best wishes
Adrian Chadwick
Spring
1 2010

4. Gordon Brown
Global luminaries view future
of education at London forum
Prominent ministers, policymakers
and influencers in the education and
skills sector gathered in London on 11
January for the official opening of the
three-day Learning and Technology
World Forum 2010 (www.latwf.org), the
largest international event on the use of
technology in education.
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5. The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown,
described the Forum as “an invaluable
opportunity for countries to learn from
one another; I am proud that the UK
nurtures and attracts so many learners
who benefit from the expertise of our
teachers and lecturers.”
This year, the forum’s overarching theme
was ‘re-imagining education’, covering
three major international concerns:
enabling regeneration and economic
recovery, striving for excellence, and
preparing for the future.
Sessions focused on a range of topics,
including eradicating social exclusion; Faisal bin Muammar, Deputy Minister of
using education to stimulate economic Education, headed the Saudi delegation
growth, the future of children’s and said, “This forum comes in the
online safety, and transforming lives context of major advances in the use
in disadvantaged communities. The of IT in international education. We
delegation went on to visit a ‘Future seek to benefit from it for our ambitious
School’ in Gravesend to look at modern development projects. We also had the
approaches to teaching and the learning opportunity to discuss the future direction
environment. of our education reform programme.”
HE Faisal bin Muaamar (left), Vice Minister of Education and
Dr. Ali Al-Hakami, TATWEER General Manager
Spring
3 2010

6. Saudi delegation at the BETT Show and LATWF forum.
Saudi delegation visits British
education show in London
Six men and two women from the Saudi
Ministry of Education and the King
Abdullah Project for the Development of
Public Education (Tatweer) attended the
week-long British Education and Training
Technology (BETT) exhibition in London
recently.
To complement the BETT Show, the
Ali Al-Dossari.
British Council has for the last four years
organised study tours for Saudi partners. “We are in the phase of enhancing the use
This year’s delegation was delighted to of ICT in our schools in Saudi Arabia and
be involved in the event and found the therefore found this a good opportunity
experience quite inspiring. “It is wonderful to observe the UK practice and products,”
to see such a broad range of exciting new said Najyah Al-Thubyani, an ICT expert
products, resources and seminars,” said from the Tatweer project.
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7. From right: Dr Mohammed Al Hamed, Dr Abdulhalim Mazi, Professor Gunther Kress,
Dr Raphael Wilkins and Mr. Chris Price.
New education collaboration
under consideration
The Institute of Education, University of academic staff exchanges and leadership
London (IOE), and the Centre for Higher in education programmes. It was decided
Education Research and Studies (CHERS) that academics from both institutions
are considering the possibilities of would meet and explore joint research
collaboration in the field of education. opportunities.
Officials from both institutions met Speaking after the meeting, Christopher
in Riyadh on January 30 to discuss Price, International Relations Manager
establishing academic links between at IOE, said, “We are left very optimistic
CHERS and IOE. that a sound basis for collaboration exists
They discussed research cooperation, between the IOE and CHERS.”
Spring
5 2010

8. Strong UK presence at
education show
UK educational institutions formed
the largest contingent at the first
International Exhibition for Higher
Education hosted by the Ministry
of Higher Education, under the
patronage of Custodian of the Two
Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin
Abdulaziz, at the Riyadh International
Exhibition Centre in January.
The largest of its kind in Saudi Arabia,
the exhibition proved a big success in
terms of number of participants and
visitors – over 250,000, according
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9. to Othman Al-Thabit, vice-chairman of the academic and research cooperation.
exhibition committee.
Allen Swales, International Officer at
The British Council organised a seminar Cambridge University, congratulated
and networking session, bringing together the Ministry of Higher Education for
12 new Saudi universities and 28 UK successfully organising such a large event:
universities. The two groups identified “I think it was a wonderful exhibition, the
points of contact and discussed future best educational event I have attended in
links, joint supervision programmes and Saudi Arabia.”
Spring
7 2010

10. Outstanding Cambridge students in
Saudi Arabia honoured
Seated from left: Mr. William Bickerdike, Regional Manager Middle East, North Africa & Pakistan,
University of Cambridge International Examinations, Dr. Samir AlUmran, Director of Girls’ Education
in Eastern Province, KSA, Mr. Kashif Chauhan, Deputy Regional Exams Manager, British Council and
Mr. Wissam Al Hassanieh, Development Manager, Cambridge International Examinations. Behind are
the high achiever students and British Council staff in Eastern Province
University of Cambridge International Top in the World award. The results in the
Examinations (CIE), in partnership with June 2009 examinations are proof that
the British Council, recently hosted the quality education and an international
Cambridge Outstanding Achiever Awards perspective, such as the one Cambridge
2010 in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam provides in its teaching, have motivated
to celebrate the impressive academic the talent that exists in Saudi Arabia.”
achievements of secondary school
Head teachers from the schools attended
students in the Kingdom.
a Principals’ Forum after the awards.
CIE Regional Manager for the Middle Mr Bickerdike presented an overview of
East, North Africa and Pakistan, William the Cambridge International Curriculum,
Bickerdike, said: “As the awards indicate, including Cambridge IGCSE and the new
performance in Saudi Arabia this year has suite of syllabuses. Participants also heard
been particularly strong, with over 20 about a range of CIE activities and the
students ranked in the global top five, and extensive support available to teachers in
eight students winning CIE’s prestigious Saudi Arabia.
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11. Spring
9 2010

12. First Springboard Network Forum held in Riyadh
130 Springboard graduates, trainers, said, “Springboard is my spaceship to
guest speakers, and women interested in conquer the world of self-development. It
self-development programmes gathered empowers me with what I need to build my
for the first Springboard Network Forum in personality.”
Riyadh on January 4.
The large gathering reflected the
In an inspiring speech, Dr Hessah enthusiasm and commitment of
Alsheikh, Dean of the women’s college Springboard graduates towards the
at Al-Yamamah University, discussed the programme. Springboard now has a
development of Saudi women and their
strong network of members from various
achievements in education. She praised
backgrounds, and the forum participants
the Springboard initiative, aimed at
expressed their interest in joining
building a world of integrated activities
specialised networks that meet their
and opportunities for Saudi women.
needs in various fields such as education,
Huda Balbeisi, a Springboard graduate, employment and health.
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13. Spring
11 2010

14. Understanding heritage through photography
More than 130 photographers and their Marcus Gilbert, British Council Director,
families participated in a Social Treasure West Saudi Arabia.
Hunt for Cultural Heritage that involved
A Treasure Hunt was also held at the
photographing historical sites in Jeddah
National Museum in Riyadh over two days;
and Riyadh.
one for women and the other for men. The
The event was held in partnership with
Jeddah Municipality, Association of Arts
and Culture Jeddah, Jeddah Shooters,
the Association of Photographers and the
British Council.
Participants followed clues and took
pictures around historical sites in Al-
Balad, Jeddah’s old town. The entries
were evaluated by a panel comprising
renowned photographer Dr Esa Angawi; participants looked for clues in different
Sami Nawar, Director of Tourism and departments representing different
Culture for Jeddah Municipality; and periods in Saudi history. The judging panel
included Dr Abdullah Al-Saud, Director of
the National Museum, and Dr Delail Al-
Qahtani, Director of the Women’s Section
at the National Museum.
One participant said, “This is an amazing
activity. We worked closely together
despite not knowing one another. It was
a new way of using photography to learn
about our heritage.”
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15. Inaugural ELT session held in Al-Khobar
A class in the English Language at the British Council Allied Centre, Liverpool, UK.
The British Council hosted its inaugural assessment, the Connecting Classrooms
English Language Teaching (ELT) Network project, and teaching children with
meeting in Al-Khobar recently. The aim communication disorders. The British
of these meetings is to provide a chance Council introduced its range of online
for ELT professionals and organisations to resources, including www.teachingenglish.org.uk
come together to share their expertise and
and www.learnenglish.org.uk. We aim to
experience. This first meeting was hosted
raise participation among Saudi teachers
by Jon Gore, Deputy Director of the British
in local, regional and international ELT
Council in Saudi Arabia, and Michael
Manser, ELT Consultant. Participants conferences, and participants explored
included Dr Nabeel Samarkandi, Head the internet link to this year’s IATEFL
of English at the Ministry of Education; presentations:
William Harrison and Dr Mohammed
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2009/media/video
Khattab of Saad Schools; Ian Griffin of the
British International School (BISAK); and Similar local networks are planned in
Philipp Fernald of the International House Riyadh, Jeddah and in the south of the
Eastern Province and SASREF. country, all of which will eventually be
Participants identified opportunities for linked to a national network. A programme
potential future co-operation in areas is also planned for professional ELT
including teacher training, testing and women.
Spring
13 2010

16. Saudi Changemaker calls on Gordon Brown
A young Global Changemaker from Saudi
Arabia met British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown at 10 Downing Street recently, to
report on the outcome of the Global Youth
Summit held in the UK at the end of 2009.
Twenty-year-old Amnah Fakieh was one
of 12 young people selected to meet
Mr Brown, out of a group of sixty Global
Changemakers from forty countries who
had attended the 5-day summit to share
to raise decision-makers’ awareness of
best practice in social work.
key issues on the global agenda.
Global Changemakers is an international
Six Global Changemakers were selected
network where young people between 16
during the summit to attend the World
and 25 share ideas and work on projects
Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland in
that directly impact the lives of people in
January. They attended a number of high-
their local communities. Each year, a select
level panels, engaged with the world’s
group of Global Changemakers is chosen
most influential business and political
to participate in high-profile political and
leaders and lent a grass-roots perspective
economic events, to act as advocates and
to the Forum’s proceedings.
Founded for the Annual Meeting of the WEF
in Davos in 2007, Global Changemakers
has since participated in the forum’s
events in Davos, Sharm El-Sheikh and Cape
Town, as well as the Global Humanitarian
Forum, the World Climate Conference and
the G20. Individual supporters include
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, former
US President Bill Clinton, and actress
Emma Thompson. Gordon Brown serves
as its patron.
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17. Jeddah-Birmingham community
exchange programme launched
A new international exchange programme since 2005, bringing together over 1000
involving community practitioners in volunteers in communities throughout the
Jeddah and Birmingham was launched UK with volunteers in 25 other countries,
recently. including Kenya, South Africa, Indonesia,
Jointly initiated by the British Council Bahrain and Oman.
and the Majid Society for Development Key programme components include
and Social Services, the Community training, job shadowing, skills sharing,
Xchange (CX) identified 14 Saudi and 13
networking, community field trips and
British participants. The Saudi volunteers
living in local host homes. Participants also
travelled to Birmingham in February and
work together to set up an intercultural
worked with their host community for
community event, where the entire
three weeks. A return exchange, hosting
community is invited to meet and share
the British volunteers, will take place in
their skills, experiences and stories.
Jeddah.
Community Xchange aims to build the
Community Xchange is a component of
Global Xchange, and draws on the British skills of youth and community workers
Council’s global expertise in cultural to be active global citizens in the
relations, Voluntary Service Overseas’ development of their communities. We
(VSO) skills in international volunteering hope to strengthen the volunteering
programmes and the Jeddah-based Majid sector in Saudi Arabia and encourage
Society’s knowledge of local community young people to take up volunteering and
needs. Global Xchange has been running community service opportunities.
Spring
15 2010

18. Visiting language expert gives teaching
tips to ELT professionals
The British Council organized a drawn from the pharmaceutical, telecom
presentation on English teaching for a and oil and gas industries.
group of ELT professionals in Riyadh on
March 1. Moving on to “A five-point plan towards
better business English teaching,”
The presentation was made by Robert McLarty encouraged the participants to
McLarty, Publishing Manager for Business try out a range of activities from recent
English and ESP Courses, Oxford
OUP publications which help students
University Press (OUP), who was on a
to experience interesting and useful
visit to Saudi Arabia recently. Among
language learning. The stress was on
those who attended the presentation
were professionals from King Saud using materials that are serious and
University, Prince Sultan University, Saudi reflect the modern world.
Development and Training Academy, The presentation was followed by a dinner
and Technical and Vocational Training
where participants interacted with McLarty
Corporation.
and shared their own experiences of being
The two-part presentation began with an ELT professional in Saudi Arabia.
a session titled, ESP Today. McLarty
used practical, interactive methods to The event was the result of a successful
demonstrate how to achieve a balance collaboration between the Skills for
between content, language work and Employability and the English for
communicative practices. Examples were Workplace project teams.
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19. Spring
17 2010

20. Connecting Classrooms teachers
brush up communication skills
70 teachers from Saudi Schools attended and concise emails using formal English;
a series of ‘Effective Communication Skills’ How to write to someone that I don’t know;
training programme between February Passing information as clearly as possible;
and March 2010 in Jeddah, Dammam and Asking questions and seeking clarification;
Riyadh. The programme was conducted and Writing and formatting an informative
by Maureen Franks, an English adviser and document.
consultant to the ‘English for the Future’ The highly collaborative Jeddah session
project in Saudi Arabia. gave the participants ample opportunity to
The purpose of the training was to practice the required skills, ask questions
and share their experiences. The
help the teachers gain confidence in
communication tools used were specific
communicating with their UK partner
to meet the needs of stakeholders.
schools. As most of the communication is
carried out in English, the training covered The initiative is seen as a good example
various topics to help develop writing of teacher-development using ‘English for
skills. They included: How to write clear the Workplace’ skill sets.
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21. BAE to continue support for
research programme
introduce Saudi university staff, many
with US research experience, to research
facilities and methods in the United
Kingdom. The programme also increases
their insight into the range and quality of
British higher education.
Unique to Saudi Arabia, the programme
has been sponsored by BAe Systems Saudi
Arabia since 1991. Over 400 academics
From left: NV Rajendran, Assistant Director Networks have undertaken research attachments in
at the British Council, Monther Tayeb, Head of PR
and Comms, BAE Systems, Adrian Chadwick, British the UK under the programme in the last
Council Director, Jon Gore, Deputy Director British 19 years. This year, 26 researchers are
Council and Jamal AlSahaf, PR and Comms Officer,
BAE Systems taking part.
BAe Systems Saudi Arabia has announced Speaking about her placement in 2009,
that they will continue to support the Dr. Maisa Al-Korashy, Vice Dean of the
Post-Doctoral Summer Research (PDSR) Mathematics Department at King Saud
Programme in 2010. University, commented, “The PDSR
The PDSR Programme, an academic Programme gave me the opportunity to
research collaboration programme work and meet with qualified researchers
developed by the British Council, enables in top UK universities and learn at close
Saudi academics to work alongside hand how research teams work together
their UK counterparts. It is designed to to produce highly beneficial results.”
New batch of Saudis set for UK studies
under SABB scholarship
SABB has selected a new intake of five scheme supports five Saudis each year on
Saudis for study in the UK under its finance or banking-related MBAs in the UK;
Scholarship Scheme for 2010. since its inception in 1997, it has enabled
The Scholarship Scheme, funded by SABB 48 people to study in the UK. For more
and managed by the British Council, aims information on the programme, contact
to increase the availability of post-graduate the British Council or visit our website:
level education to Saudi nationals. The www.britishcouncil.org/me
Spring
Spring
19 2010
19 2010

22. Jeddah women’s centre MOVES
to new location
The British Council has upgraded its maintaining real segregation for male
women’s centre in Jeddah, bringing it and female students and creating extra
onto the same floor as the men’s centre. classrooms by doing away with the
Previously women’s operations took previous somewhat palatial reception
place in a rather unsuitable building in a area. The end result is a new look, new
different area of the city. Saudi architect classrooms and a wonderful new working
Reda Sijiniy drew up the new floor plan, environment for our staff and customers.
Saudi students briefed on
undergraduate study in the UK
33 Saudi students interested in studying in quality assurance, choosing the right
Britain attended a presentation by Diana institution, the Universities and Colleges
Rayan, Promotion Advisor for Education Admissions Service (UCAS) application
and Exams, at the British Council’s Jeddah process, scholarships, and visa
office recently. information. The students came prepared
with many questions of their own, asking
The presentation highlighted the UK’s about accommodation options, living
world-class education system, and the expenses and cultural diversity. 17-
students were briefed on various subjects year-old Zahar Al-Gain said that “the
including degree courses, admission presentation was very useful - it guided
requirements, overseas qualifications, me on how to choose colleges in the UK.”
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23. Spring
21 2010