Etisalat has entered a transformational collaboration with US-based Blackboard, a leader in technology-enabled education services, towards enabling mobile education in the UAE.

Etisalat also announced a pilot project for implementing m-education solution for Abu Dhabi University.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was jointly signed by the two companies to bring technology enabled educational services to the UAE.  An MoU was also jointly signed by Abu Dhabi University and Etisalat to initialize the m-education pilot project for the former.

As per these MoUs, Etisalat will collaborate with Blackboard to deploy m-education solution for Abu Dhabi University by January 2011. Students from the university will be able to leverage the Blackboard Mobile Learn solution by Etisalat, as an innovative learning medium for higher education.

“This is an historic moment for not just Etisalat, but for the entire education community in the UAE, as we are elevating the education delivery mechanism to a new level,” said Abdulla Hashim, senior vice president, business solution at Etisalat.

“At Etisalat we believe that mobile technology can be harnessed for sociological and economic development of the country and Etisalat is proud to lead this initiative by through innovative applications.”

“Our association with Blackboard will empower students to leverage the untapped potential of mobile education. Our pilot project in collaboration with Abu Dhabi University is the first step towards not only providing a new medium for education, but also the best of content to the students through their mobiles,” he added.

Geared to support the education sector and provide students and academic staff enhanced mobility and flexibility, the Blackboard Mobile Learn solution will enable students and teachers to gain instant access to their courses and content on their handheld devices, a statement said.

Powered by Etisalat’s 3.5 G network that covers over 99 per cent of the populated areas in the UAE, the m-education solution will be compatible with any mobile device, including Android and BlackBerry phones and iPhone OS-powered devices including iPad, it added. – TradeArabia News Service