The Center for Learning Innovations and Customized Knowledge Solutions (CLICKS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the UK- based Quality Assurance Strategic Planning Institutional Research (QASPIR) to foster mutual understanding and support by offering professional development opportunities as well as digitization services and transfer of best practices in areas of common interest.
The MoU also aims to enhance cooperation between the two organizations to leverage their expertise in supporting the higher education sector with capacity building opportunities and transitioning meaningfully to online learning. Among the critical areas of collaboration will be supporting universities and colleges with digital transformation across the entire ecosystem and providing a rich range of hybrid and online training programs geared towards the needs of the higher education sector and supported through the QASPIR platform Qedex. The MoU also calls for strengthening cooperation through mutually promoting each parties’ offerings, organizing joint certificates, webinars and other networking events.
The MoU was signed in a virtual ceremony that was held on the afternoon of the 22nd of April, 2022, by Mr. Stuart Blacklock, CEO of QASPIR and Dr. Narimane Hadj-Hamou, representing CLICKS as its CEO and was broadcast on social media channels of both organizations.
In this context, Mr. Stuart Blacklock, CEO of QASPIR, shared, “Our partnership with CLICKS comes very naturally as both our organizations provide complementing services. It comes when institutions are looking to digitize programs for online delivery, and professional development is becoming more accepted as a way to improve how students learn. With our focus on leadership, faculty and staff professional development through our platform Qedex and Online Digitization Services, combined with CLICKS vast experience with leadership, policy procedures and governance, we can offer institutions a unique and compelling opportunity. We both believe an institution is only as good as its people, and with both CLICKS and QASPIRs strong reputation, we will continue to assist institutions in their pursuit of improved student learning, retention and graduation.”
Dr. Hadj-Hamou, on her side, added: ‘’We are excited to enter into this new partnership and look forward to implement our action plans to activate this MoU collaboratively. We believe that there are many opportunities for us to effectively support the higher education sector, particularly when it comes to the transition to online learning in a holistic manner that considers the entire ecosystem and the need to maintain quality standards. Both our organization expertise nicely complement each other; from one hand, QASPIR has strong expertise in digitization services and provides online platforms to facilitate the development of learning communities and the delivery of online courses, and on the other hand, CLICKS has strong experience with training and consulting in areas related to teaching online, online quality assurance, innovative pedagogies and developing pioneering thinking around the impact of digital transformation on the HE education sector post-pandemic.’’