KUWAIT: The Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) will be hosting the Online Conceive - Design - Implement - Operate (CDIO) Asian Regional Forum for 2021. The forum will take place over the course of three days from October 26 to 28 under the patronage and attendance of Omar Ali Mohammad Al-Kandari, Acting Secretary General of the Private Universities Council, Kuwait.
The regional forum titled 'Post Pandemic Higher Education' will discuss various topics and it will cover many other more specific themes including, but not limited to, CDIO approaches and innovations in engineering education, curriculum design, educational leadership, faculty development, distance learning, and CDIO implementation and challenges within the GCC region. The forum is open for the public and can be attended by registering through the official website of ACK. It is worth mentioning that the CDIO approach is an innovative educational framework for producing the next generation of engineers. The framework relies on active learning and stresses the fundamentals of engineering in order to conceive, design, implement and operate products, services, and systems.
Back in 2019, ACK won the bid to host the 2021 forum following the 15th International CDIO Conference, making it the first Gulf Cooperation Council country to host a CDIO Asian Regional Forum. ACK was the first institution in the GCC to adopt the CDIO approach, and has been actively implementing its principles through various measures including organizing internship programs in collaboration with different industries, holding exhibitions for graduation projects, emphasizing project based learning (PBL) in the engineering curriculum, and hosting weekly presentations from local and international guest speakers.
The Asian Regional Forum will be open to faculty, technologists, graduates, and all those interested to learn about the CDIO approach and its implementation. It will include various keynote speeches by contributors to the CDIO initiative, discussion panels and workshops.
The keynote speakers during the meeting will include: Prof Thomas Ryberg, Professor of PBL and Digital Learning in the Department of Planning, Aalborg University; Prof Clement Fortin, Associate Provost, Dean of Education, Professor of Practice, Space Center, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology; Prof Mushtak Al-Atabi, Provost and CEO, Heriot-Watt University; Aldert Kamp, Co-Director of the CDIO Initiative, Delft University of Technology; Robert Songer, Associate Professor of Global Information and Management, International College of Technology, Kanazawa; Prof Isam Zabalawi, President of ACK; Helen Leong, Director, Department of Educational Development at Singapore Polytechnic, Co-chair of CDIO Asian Region, and Singapore Polytechnic's CDIO representative; Dr Juha Kontio, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Business, Turku University of Applied Sciences; Prof Martin Jaeger, Senior Manager of Project Based Learning Center, ACK; Dr Suzanne Brink, Associate Professor at Centre for Educational Development, Umea University. In conclusion, the College hopes that this forum will be crowned with success, which will benefit the educational process in the State of Kuwait and GCC.