UT Global Initiative Receives Award from Major International Conference

LONDON— The Global Initiative for Education and Leadership (GI) of the University of Texas at Austin has received an award from the 2013 Gulf Education Conference and Exhibition (GECE) in London. The award recognizes GI’s work in promoting education globally and, especially, in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

“When I formed The University of Texas Global Initiative for Education and Leadership, it was with the idea that the talent of UT could be strategically leveraged to promote education around the globe,” says Richard Flores, Senior Associate Dean for the UT College of Liberal Arts and Executive Director of GI. “This award from the Gulf Education Conference tells us that the UT Global Initiative is on track with that goal and has made a real impact in a short time.”

“The Global Initiative has built a strong record of accomplishments and earned a reputation for effectiveness and innovation,” says Mohammed Abdelkhalig, Event Director for GECE. “Its abilities were on display at the conference. This award not only recognizes their great work to date but says we are looking forward to great things from them in the future.”

GI served as a strategic partner for GECE 2013. The Initiative has shown its educational commitment to the MENA region in multiple ways:

Conducted multiple educational missions to the region, holding high level discussions with decision makers from more than 100 entities including universities, government ministries and NGOs as well as businesses with an interest in promoting education.
Conducted numerous educational seminars throughout the region on topics including teacher training, active learning, preparing students for international study and professional development for young women.

Created Fast Track and Fast Track Plus programs designed to enable students from MENA to accelerate their learning through a rigorous a ESL training program in Austin, supplemented with skill enhancing workshops and leadership seminars.

GI’s mission is global in scope and its programs and capacities are applicable to every part of the world. The Middle East and North Africa region has, however, been an important focus for GI activity. “Whether you’re taking about student enrollment, funding or the number of institutions, the Middle East is one of the world’s fastest growing regions for higher education,” says Anjum Malik, GI’s Director of International Marketing and Public Relations. “GI’s involvement is especially beneficial in such a region and we’re discovering enormous interest in what we can provide.”

About the Global Initiative for Education and Leadership: GI is a consortium of recognized training programs at The University of Texas at Austin that delivers high quality teacher training, executive education and English as second language instruction as well as a variety of educational consulting and support services. For more information, please visit: www.utexas.edu/cola/inits/utglobal/

About the Gulf Education Conference & Exposition: Now in its third year, the Gulf Education Conference and Exposition creates a unique opportunity for the educational leadership of Arabia Gulf, MENA, U.K. and U.S. regions, as well as international education professionals, to gather in a single location to network, exchange ideas and create new partnerships. For more information on the event, please visit www.gulfeducation.co.uk