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4th Industrial Revolution

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BQA in the service of the 4th Industrial Revolution


1. Education and Training Review Frameworks

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is an important part of the improvement of learning outcomes. To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong  learning  opportunities for all, the Kingdom of Bahrain is striving to achieve a sustainable, knowledge-based and diversified economy, in line with developments in the technical sector of education as a core sector; in order to achieve the objectives of Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030. Consequently, the Education and Training Quality Authority has updated its education and training review frameworks, making twenty-first century skills a basis for the BQA reviews. Therefore, they reflect the necessary current changes of the 4th Industrial Revolution and contribute to realise  Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030.


School Review Framework

With the rapid changes occurring both locally and globally the identification of required learning skills has become essential to enable learners to manage their post-graduation stages. This is essential to students whether they are pursuing higher education or going into the labour market. Therefore, the Schools Review Framework focuses on the development of educational outcomes by building on the skills of the 21st Century.  These are the starting points for the Framework's aspects and criteria. As a result, individuals will be enabled academically, have the necessary life skills, and be able to adapt, compete and face challenges. The aim of these skills is to establish a common vision and language in relation to what is expected from the students upon graduation from the different educational stages and reduce the gap between the outcomes of education and the requirements of the labour market. For more details, please refer to the 'Schools Review Framework'.

 

DVR Review Framework

The DVR Review Framework highlights the quality and effectiveness of the education and training on offer in meeting the local labour market needs in line with the modern techniques across the regional and global markets. This is executed through periodic market studies and surveys, and by continuously measuring the needs and expectations of relevant stakeholders. In addition, the criteria of the DVR Review Framework include a number of aspects relating to stimulating self-learning, higher order and critical thinking amongst learners, and promote life-long learning. For more details, please refer to the 'DVR Review Framework'.

 

HEIs Academic Programme Reviews:

The review standards and indicators of the HEIs Academic Programme Reviews' Framework comprise a number of expectations relating to creativity and innovation, development of independent and lifelong learning, various types of learning, and e-learning. They include the following:

  • - E-learning is a part of the teaching and learning policy and supports the attainment of the intended learning outcomes.
  • - The teaching and learning policy encourages students' participation in learning, exposure to professional practice/application of theory where applicable, and development of independent and lifelong learning. 
  • - The learning environment strengthens the students' perceptions and research capabilities and motivates them to create and innovate
  • - The learning environment promotes the concept of lifelong learning by encouraging all types of learning: formal, informal and non-formal learning.
  • - The level of students' achievements is appropriate based on careful scrutiny of students' assessed work (different levels and types of courses) and reflects their ability to create and innovate.  For more details, please refer to the 'HEIs Academic Programme Reviews Handbook'.

 

National Qualifications Framework (NQF):

In line with the requirements of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the Directorate has taken the first steps to digitalize its operations by launching an electronic platform that works on multi-level interaction with relevant parties and collecting information about them. Through the proposed electronic platform, the Directorate seeks to provide services digitally from the registration process to the scheduling process, submission of Institutional Listing, Qualification Placement and Alignment  of Foreign Qualifications applications as well as the application evaluation process by independent and specialised committees, drafting and approving reports.

The proposed platform would therefore serve as a one stop shop to facilitate the execution of the NQF internal processes by the Directorate staff members, and the NQF external processes by all relevant parties, including education and training institutions, independent evaluation committees and different approval phases.

It will also contribute to data collection and analysis on the Directorate's processes and the satisfaction of relevant parties. This will help improve interaction with and access to relevant parties. It should be noted that the platform will be equipped with a self-notification system for all users in the event of any task that draws their attention.

 

Directorate of National Examinations (DNE):

The Directorate is currently working to automate the National Examinations by developing an electronic system that covers all operational procedures to make operations easier for students and facilitate the announcement of the results. Since 2017, DVR has initiated the development and transfer of certain procedures - qualitatively - from older to advanced electronic frameworks to ensure obtaining accurate and concise information from the specialised authorities.

 

 

2.    Cloud First Policy:

Cloud computing is concerned with IT operations of an organization in the cloud. Cost effectiveness, efficiency, scalability, high availability, on-demand nature of resources and elasticity are pivotal reasons why organizations would like to migrate to cloud computing.

BQA is keen to adopt the cloud first policy in collaboration with the Information and e-Government Authority, whereas it transferred its systems to AWS and Office 365 to contribute to:

  • - Reducing costs of government ICT.
  • - Increasing security by utilizing accredited platforms.
  • - Increasing productivity and agility, thus improving the Authority's services.

 Reference: e-Government website.


3.    Artificial Intelligence Technology:

The of Education and Training Quality Authority adopted artificial intelligence technology by adding the ChatBot feature on the BQA website, a specialised chat programme that relies on artificial intelligence to interact with visitors to the website in a language that the programme captures and understands through pre-programmed instructions. It is an important tool that applies the system of providing useful information as a typical answer to questions asked by the visitors of the BQA website.

 

ChatBot feature will help:

  • - Facilitate user access methods to the service by interacting with users and answering queries.
  • - Automate customer service, so that the response is immediate on all simple questions.
  • - Save the efforts of the BQA staff members, so that their role is focused in responding to complex questions. 
  • - Enhance the BQA image, so that the interaction is available 24/7 days a week through the constant availability of information. 
  • - ​Collect and analyze queries and improve the BQA services.