Prof. Dr. Essam El-Kordi, President of Alamein International University (AIU) and President of the Conference of Presidents of Francophone Universities in the Middle East (CONFREMO) chaired a webinar entitled “University Governance and Digitization in Time of Crisis”. The webinar was organized by (CONFREMO) and the Francophone University Agency (AUF) in cooperation with Senghor University, on Tuesday 6 April 2021.
This webinar falls within the context of COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a great impact on higher education and scientific research, and the keenness of CONFREMO to provide better support to member institutions, as part of their strategy to confront this crisis. This webinar revolves around governance challenges in times of crisis, change management, digital transformation, adaptation of university governance and management in times of crisis, distance education, evaluation and adaptation to the pandemic, regulatory frameworks for distance education, and other topics related to distance education in light of COVID-19 pandemic.
In his opening speech, El-Kordi said that we were obliged to experiment with unconventional methods, and use digital technology applications, to deal with the crisis, such as holding conferences, seminars, councils and workshops via video conference. That is how we adapted and transformed digitally. El-Kordi added that the importance of digitization has emerged in light of the current conditions in governance of educational institutions, especially universities, where university governance is one of the modern concepts in the educational field. University governance has received great interest in recent years, using which to achieve total quality and excellence in university performance, being a tool that helps higher education in managing institutions efficiently and effectively, in order to ensure the quality of outputs. In his speech, El-Kordi added that there is a strong correlation between the two concepts of governance and digitization, as digitization contributed to a quantum leap for educational institutions, in light of COVID-19 pandemic and led to the development of the institutional and academic frameworks in universities.
This is the third largest event organized this year under Prof. Dr. Essam El-Kordi’s presidency of (CONFREMO), following the Regional Student Entrepreneurship Competition, launched by Alexandria University on May 31, and the Second Alexandria International Conference on Pedagogical Innovation and Technology Enhanced Learning. The latter event was organized by the Pedagogical Innovation and Distance Learning Unit at Alexandria University on 24 and 25 October last year.
This webinar was attended by Mr. Jean-Noël Baléo, Regional Director of the Francophone University Agency in the Middle East, Mr. Thierry Verdel, President of Senghor University, member Presidents of the Francophone Universities at CONFREMO, Presidents of Universities in Sister Countries, Deans of Faculties in Francophone Universities and Sister Universities, and Professors within and outside the Middle East Region
