Minister of Education Dr. Hamad Bin Mohammed Al-Sheikh in Riyadh Monday inaugurated the Global Trends in E-Learning Forum (GTEL), which is being held between Feb. 21 and 23 and organized by the Saudi Electronic University (SEU). More than 40 speakers are participating in the presence of several ministers and officials and top education leaders, innovators and experts from across the world. The minister said: “These days we are celebrating the Founding Day of our beloved country by the late Imam Mohammed Bin Saud who embarked on building the state by paying attention to science and education and laid deep foundations that made education the first brick in establishing the state and the main pillar for the strength, development and civilization of the society.” He added that Saudi Arabia has realized early that the next challenge is increasing the level of efficiency of educational enablers and making the greatest benefit of available resources, where the Kingdom has launched several initiatives and programs to develop the educational system with its various levels to celebrate the first step upon the issuance of the Royal Order in 2011 to establish SEU. The minister added: “Envisioning the future requirements, the Saudi Vision 2030 came to existence and was endorsed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, and received the attention and follow up of the Crown Prince, who put a set of strategic goals, such as the goals of the general and university education to develop their outcomes.” He noted that today’s meeting aims at discussing the future of e-learning and its requirements of cognitive, skill and technological requirements to reach sustainable qualitative initiatives. For her part, SEU President Dr. Lilac Bint Ahmad Al-Safadi voiced her appreciation for the wise leadership for the continuous and big support to the educational sector and for the minister of education for his patronage to this forum and his ongoing keenness to make innovation as an instilled value in the educational field. During the ceremony, an accompanying virtual exhibition for the forum was inaugurated with the participation of more than 50 global companies leading the technological advancement in education and training in more than 20 countries. The exhibition provides an opportunity to any person around the world to assess and test future e-learning products and technologies. GTEL is an annual event on the most important developments, trends, technologies, and practices, shaping the future of e-learning. This forum fosters the exchange of knowledge and helps academics to discover changes ahead related to education and training, in a bid to offer innovative and creative technological solutions in the e-learning field, in addition to reviewing and assessing modern learning approaches and the best practices to apply it. — SPA