The Regional Center for Information and Communication Technology
(RCICT) is based in the Kingdom of Bahrain under the auspsies of UNESCO, is an accredited Category II Center, which works towards fulfilling UNESCO's efforts in achieving its strategic objectives and building knowledge societies.
RCICT's Vision
To lead innovation and scientific research and to promote cooperation in capacity-building and standard setting in ICTs regionally
Through its various programs, initiatives and activities, RCICT contributed to raising the human development indicators in the Arab region, particularly the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen, by harnessing information and communication technology in the fields of capacity-building and knowledge exchange, experience and good practices. RCICT works on a continuous basis with the Ministry of Education and a number of national, regional and international institutions in the field of information and communication technology to achieve sustainable development and making maximum use of information and communication technology in the training, teaching, learning and evaluation processes. The support of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Centre has contributed to the development of its infrastructure and human resources. RCICT has the latest technology and advanced equipment to implement its projects, initiatives and activities. The number of beneficiaries of the training services provided by RCICT at the national and regional levels has reached approximately 15,000 since its opening.
RCICT's Message
To enhance applied research education and training in the fields of Information and Communication Technology with the objective of making a contribution towards building a solid base of knowledge for meeting some of the technological challenges that Bahrain and the rest of the Arab countries face today and tomorrow.
RCICT's Objectives
The objectives of the Regional Centre in the new agreement 2019 are a qualitative extension of its work from the successful establishment phase to the stage of development and expansion in line with the latest ICT developments in the region, as follows:
First Objective
Enhance education systems using ICTs to promote quality and inclusive lifelong learning for all, including education sector diagnosis; a transformation of TVET through regional and national strategy/policy development and synergies of skills for life and work;
Second Objective
Coordinate and sustain multi-stakeholder partnership engagement through a regional partners platform to allow for the exchange of developing trends in areas such as AI, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Cloud Computing and Coding, knowledge and experiences on ICT for education;.
Third Objective
Empower learners to be competent, creative and responsible Global Citizens, promoting transformative and active learning pedagogies that encourage core skills development, such as problem-solving and critical thinking, producing Global Citizenship and electronic platforms; and support existing networks to advance the GCE agenda in the Arab States region (UNESCO 2016).
Forth Objective
Support Member States in the Implementation and monitoring of SDG 4 by developing ICTs in education policies and relevant standards, based on the Qingdao Declaration and the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML), and by promoting the recently updated ICT – CF; and
Fifth Objective
Improve recognition of, and access to equitable and quality assured higher education provision, through a diversity of online, distance, open education and blended learning delivery models and short skills-based courses such as Massive On-line Open Courses (MOOCs) and OERs (UNESCO, 39 C/5).
The Center's functions were designed to contribute in the use of information and communication technologies for knowledge acquisition and exchange in order to promote sustainable development. The Center's functions are:
A brainstorming laboratory for the development of strategic plans, policies and practices through the networking of professionals at the regional level, including organizing direct meetings and the establishment of a virtual practitioners' community in the Center's area of competence.
Capacity – builder providing education and training for trainers in the areas related to capacity-building in ICTs for knowledge sharing and acquisition, including system development, applications development, computer literacy and information literacy.
Clearing house on theories, experiences and best practices in the area of the application of ICT’s for knowledge sharing and acquisition worldwide.
Technology hub providing state-of-the-art computing infrastructure in order to advance large-scale data-processing applications, scientific research and high-performance computing.
Research centre for developing and coordinating cooperative research on technology solutions for knowledge acquisition and sharing.