On April 14, 2016 H.E. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, visited the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE). During his meeting with Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov, Head a.i. of the UNESCO IITE, and the Institute staff the parties discussed the prospects for cooperation with the UNESCO IITE in different spheres, including higher education, teachers professional development and ICT competences, as well as other aspects of education. Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov made a presentation on the IITE’s activities, including those in the sphere of higher and inclusive education, presented the information about the project "Foresight in ICT in Postsecondary Education" and IITE’s programmes aimed at developing ICT in education in different countries and regions of the world. H.E. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi highlighted the necessity to increase the level of ICT competences of teachers in educational institutions to bridge the digital divide between students and educators, which cannot be overcome solely by installing and developing IT infrastructure in educational institutions. The parties expressed their intentions to continue negotiations and defined further steps of cooperation.
During his visit H.E. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi also visited the Moscow International Education Fair 2016 co-organized by the UNESCO IITE.
