NEWS
KSA
New Age Education Summit to focus on educational technology
UMS Conferences has announced the launch the New Age Education Summit, to be held from 8 to 9 May, 2017 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The primary objective of the summit is to discuss the benefits, challenges and opportunities of implementing educational technology for rectors, deans, principals and other educational authorities in the Gulf Cooperation Council( GCC) region. It will bring together leading educational experts to present case studies, conduct live product demonstrations and share success stories.
The educational sector is one of the largest markets in the GCC. Education expenditure accounts for 19.5 % of the total public expenditure in the region, exceeding the global average of 14.6 %. In a bid to raise the educational standards and keep up with current trends, governments across the GCC are backing the introduction of educational technology such as e-learning in classrooms. E-learning has been proven to cut instruction time for teachers by 60 %. It also increases the retention rate among students significantly. E-learning platforms have consequently been made mandatory in most schools across the GCC.
The New Age Education Summit will feature a distinguished panel of industry experts who will cover critical issues such as the transition from high school to college, the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants, how to select and train teachers and the technological practices adopted by top universities across the globe. It will provide delegates with the opportunity to collaborate with prospective clients, increase their brand’ s visibility and network with the key influencers and decision makers that shape the educational industry in the GCC.
Saudi Arabia warns destructive computer virus‘ Shamoon’ has returned
( Report from AP) Saudi Arabia is warning that a computer virus that destroyed systems of its staterun oil company in 2012 has returned to the kingdom, with at least one major petrochemical company apparently affected by its spread.
Suspicion for the initial dispersal of the Shamoon virus in 2012 fell on Iran as it came after the Stuxnet cyber attack targeting Tehran’ s contested nuclear enrichment program.
It wasn’ t immediately clear who could be responsible for the new infection, though the relations between regional rivals remain tense.
A report by Saudi state-run television included comments suggesting that 15 government agencies and private institutions had been hit by the Shamoon virus, including the Saudi Labour Ministry. The ministry said it was working with the Interior Ministry to contain the virus.
Sadara, a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., shut down its computer network Monday over a disruption.
Sadara is based in Jubail Industrial City, which sits about 100 kilometres( 60 miles) northwest of the eastern Saudi city of Dammam in the heartland of the kingdom’ s oil industry. The $ 20 billion facility, inaugurated by Saudi King Salman in late November, includes 26 manufacturing units that will produce more than three million metric tons of plastics and chemical products.
Symantec Corp., a California-based security firm, warned in late November that Shamoon had been spotted again in Saudi Arabia. Computers affected had their hard drives erased and displayed a photograph of the body of 3-yearold Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, who drowned fleeing his country’ s civil war, Symantec said.
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