JEDDAH - The General Education Program at Dar Al Hekma University organized its First General Education Forum on 24 Nov 2021 form 10 am to 3:30 pm under the title “General Education: A lifelong Journey”.

The Forum provided a venue for faculty and students at Dar Al Hekma to present their creative and scholarly work in different fields such as science and sport, math, history, languages and literature, art, theater, public speaking, IT, music and many more. In an interactive session with the students, the fForum guest speaker, the Saudi novelist, Dr. Amal Shatta, fulfilled students’ curiosity about her work as a doctor who deals with patients on daily basis and her hobby of writing novels.

Dr. Abeer A Doghaither, the president of Dar Al Hekma University stated, “The Forum is an event in which Dar Al-Hekma Universitycelebrates the wealth of knowledge across all discipline offered tostudents.” She added, “the General Education Program at DAH was established in fulfillment of the contract between the Texas International Education Consortium and Dar Al-Hekma. It is the product of the efforts of both U.S. and Saudi experts in higher education. The program recognizes that the vision and mission of the University have established high academic standards.” She explained that currently, the General Education Program orients the students to the high expectations and culture for learning in Saudi Arabia in the 21 century to fulfil Vision 2030 where technology, design thinking and entrepreneurship and the methodology of inquiry and application of collaboration, communication, creativity,critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills as essential components of learning.

Dr. Eiman Kurdi, the provost, explained how being able to communicate effectively with different audiences, and being emotionally intelligent and equipped with entrepreneurship skillsthat the Program provides the students with can make the graduates impressive candidates to potential employers and assist in their future job promotion. She explained, “These are important lifelong skills that students need to have because they are valued by future employers and will help students throughout the rest of their academic careers.”

Among the featured activities in the forum were lighting presentations on health and diet, public speaking contest,creative writing contest, a play food safety measures, IT Competition, the Jeopardy Game, Guitar playing and singing and “Draw on the Go” initiative. Through these activities, the students demonstrated attributes of being “team players, tolerant, adaptable, emotionally intelligent, self-confident, reflective, ethical, socially responsible, decision making, and ultimately being lifelong learners,” states Dr. Khawla Zahran, the director of the General Education program at Dar Al-HekmaUniversity.

The student Alaa’ Al-Attas from the Cyber Security Program said, “My skills have improved through the general education courses I have taken so far. I became more equipped with entrepreneurial skills and I have surely become an effective communicator orally and in writing; I am now more tech savvyand an efficient investigator. ​

It is worth mentioning that the General Education Programcontinuously addresses the needs for students and develops course that meets the needs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.