Queen Rania Visits German Jordanian University

(Office of Her Majesty – Press Department – Madaba) - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah visited the German Jordanian University’s (GJU) Madaba Campus on Sunday to support the University’s cutting-edge teaching initiatives, especially its collaboration with Edraak, the first digital platform for educational content in the Arab world.

The partnership is the product of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), GJU, and the Queen Rania Foundation last year to develop an online national education course for GJU students that focuses on strengthening their understanding of national identity in an intercultural context.

During the visit, Her Majesty met with the Dean of the Computer Engineering and Information Technology School Professor Saleem Al Aqtash, and a number of students who completed Edraak’s online course, as well as lecturers who supervised the development of the course. They discussed the benefits of the course and its potential to improve the accessibility of special content to students at the University and in the Arab world.

The online course was developed in accordance with the educational standards set by the MoHE. Its format consists of short video lectures followed by assignments specifically designed to ensure that students understand and build on the lecture material. Students are either graded automatically by the web service, or by other students, which has allowed professors to teach several thousand students at the same time in a personalized manner.

Accompanied by President of the GJU Board of Trustees Professor Othman Bdeir, President of GJU Professor Manar Fayyad, and Vice President of the University Professor Anton Mangstl, Queen Rania also visited an exhibition showcasing projects by students in the Robotics Club.

Applied Sciences Lecturer Dr. Natheer Khawaldeh briefed Her Majesty about the club’s projects and how they are developed to assist local technologies. The exhibition included an upper limb exoskeleton suit, Bluetooth controlled cars, and smart karts.

The Queen also toured the water and renewable energy labs and listened to the faculty describe the facilities’ innovative input within the local renewable energy sector. Her Majesty also dropped by a German language class that focuses on interactive dialogue as a way to advance applied language skills.

The GJU was founded in 2005 by a Royal Decree, in accordance with an agreement reached by Jordan’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It follows the German Fachhochschul-Modell (Universities of Applied Sciences) in its approach to teaching, which focuses on applying knowledge into practice and promoting its transfer. By taking advantage of best practices in education in both Jordan and Germany, the University has positioned itself to be a leader in higher-education. It has enhanced intercultural communications between the east and the west by building ties and relationships between Jordan and European universities and created links between market and industry, especially in Germany. All its students spend one full year in Germany; one semester studying at a German university, followed by one semester of training in a German industrial establishment. The GJU is the only university in the Middle East and Gulf regions that requires its students to complete an entire year abroad, empowering them to work and study in a European country.