Academic Enrichment Program organized by Mawhiba and co-authored by the elite Johns Hopkins University
Six thousand students in various regions of the Kingdom become engineers, doctors and scientists in 23 different scientific units provided intensively, over 21 days, as a part of Mawhiba Academic Enrichment Program. This is one of the largest scientific programs in the world. It is organized by King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity “Mawhiba” and its partners. The program is started today, June 13 at 5 Saudi universities in person and remotely. The advanced scientific units were prepared in cooperation with John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.
This comes within Mawhiba programs provided to students who have been identified through the National Program for Gifted Identification, which Mawhiba holds annually in a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Education, and allows all public education students in the Kingdom’s regions to enroll in it, whether through schools or directly by them. The Summer Academic Enrichment Program, held every summer, aims at enriching the students’ knowledge, raising their efficiency and readiness, building the scientific and practical experiences, challenging their abilities and developing their skills.
A statement made by "Mawhiba" indicated that the Academic Enrichment Program provided by Mawhiba this summer includes the scientific and skill aspects. It enhances the development of personal and social skills, and provides students with the skills of the twenty-first century.The statement added that Mawhiba Academic Enrichment Programs are being held in person and remotely this year. The in-person program relies on teaching the scientific method of enrichment units by 67% of academics, in addition to 33% of skill training packages; 6 hours per day, with a total of 90 hours of study; 4 hours for the scientific curriculum, and 2 hours for skills. The distance program depends on teaching the scientific curriculum of enrichment units by 75%, in addition to training skill packages by 25%; 4 hours per day, with a total of 60 hours of study, including 3 hours per day for the scientific curriculum, and one hour per day for skill training packages.
The statement added that the enrichment programs are held in two periods this year; in person and remotely. The first period starts from June 13 to July 1, 2021, and the second period starts from August 1 to 19, 2021. It is attended by boys and girls in the 5 following universities: King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, King Saud University in Riyadh, Princess Nourah University in Riyadh, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam, and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran.
The statement made by Mawhiba indicated that this program, which is provided annually, takes into account all aspects of preparation and training for students. The trainers are from the elite of trainers and academics who have attended continuous courses and advanced programs that keep pace with the best technologies, sciences and direct and virtual teaching methods. This is for delivering information, and creating environments suitable for creativity, learning and motivation, noting that the last training programs were completed last week for 387 male and female trainers from the elite of specialized experts and skills trainers, who are training the students.
The statement also noted that Mawhiba was keen that the current training program for teachers includes specialized training courses to enhance the role of the trainer in helping students learn the skills and rules of logical thinking, to enable them to have a deep understanding of the skill of self-confidence, and to be fully aware of the techniques and scientific steps used to solve any problem, as well as the correct practical steps for decision-making.
The number of enrolled students in Mawhiba’s summer enrichment programs 2021 has so far reached 5,887 male and female students, while the total number of seats is 6000, with 113 vacant seats remaining, including 7 seats for in-person programs, and 106 seats for distance programs.
This is one of the programs provided by Mawhiba to their students who are identified, as a part of a journey through which they go through various scientific experiments, in an interesting and stimulating manner and according to international experiences. They undergo training and preparation stages, which over the past 10 years have yielded great results for the Kingdom internationally through making 500 international achievements; 415 international awards in scientific competitions, and 85 international awards in the ISEF competition, which is the most important student scientific competition in the world.
