Dr. Narimane Hadj-Hamou

Dr. Narimane Hadj-Hamou is Founder and CEO of the Center for Learning Innovations and Customized Knowledge Solutions (CLICKS) – www.cli-cks.com established in 2012 as a private ‘not for profit’ organization with the primary purpose of supporting the healthy growth and development of the higher education sector in the Arab region via the provision of capacity building opportunities, the transfer of “know-how”, and the offering of ‘fit for purpose’ consultancy services. The Center works today with more than a 100 Higher Education Institutions and have trained almost 10,000 members of the higher education community across its various areas of expertise. Prior to establishing CLICKS, she was the Assistant Chancellor for Learning and Academic Development (Provost) at the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) in Dubai, UAE where she has established and led the academic, research and eLearning vision and strategy of the first online University to be recognized and accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the UAE (2003 through 2012). In her role as the Assistant Chancellor for Learning and Academic Development and as a Dean earlier, she has been involved with the leading the design, development and accreditation of several programs including doctoral degrees and in leading the institution efforts to move from a College (e-TQM College) to a university status. She has also been involved with establishing international links with leading universities and organizations globally.

Dr. Hadj-Hamou is the founder of several regional initiatives; she has established (2008-2009) the Middle East eLearning Association (MEeA); one of the first Arab regional non-for-profit associations addressing eLearning in the MENA region and was elected as its first President. Prior to that she has launched and chaired for several years during her work at the HBMSU the eLearning Excellence Forum/ HBMeU Congress known today as Innovate Arabia. In 2013 in collaboration with the Arab Association of Universities she led the formation of the MENA Association of University; an independent, non-political, non- for profit, professional and academic regional association of chief executive officers from Higher Education Institutions within the Middle East and Northern African region. In the same year she led the launch of the MENA Higher Education Leadership Forum (www.menahelf.com) which she chairs as a regional high level gathering of higher education leaders and decision makers from across the globe.
Dr. Hadj- Hamou research interest is around the use of innovative pedagogies and modern technologies in higher education (including online, blended learning and flipped learnig) as she holds a PhD in software engineering and a Bachelor and Master in computer Science. Over the years, she has established interest also in aspects of quality and quality assurance in higher education.
Dr Narimane is a highly sought speaker and trainer and has throughout her career delivered and facilitated over a 150 of local, regional and international keynote addresses; workshops, roundtables and panel discussions in many countries including Hungary, Germany, Lebanon, Malaysia, France, the UK, Qatar, Sudan, Italy, Egypt, Morocco, China, the USA, South Africa, the UAE among many others. More recently with the pandemic, she has been involved in faculty capacity building in the areas of online learning and trained more than 3000 academicians on aspects of course design, assessment, online teaching, quality assurance and academic advising.

Dr. Hadj Hamou acted on numerous occasions as a consultant for different UNESCO regional offices mainly supporting the development of quality higher education and the embracement of new forms of learning such as e-learning. She was previously involved with the European Training Foundation and serves as an external reviewer for external quality assurance agencies in the region. She was instrumental in reviewing most recently the NCAAA Saudi Standard for Online Learning.
Dr. Hadj-Hamou receive different recognitions, among which she was in 2014 recognized for her contribution to the field by Forbes Magazine who listed her among the 200 Most powerful Arab Women, in 2016 she received the Arab Women Award for the Education category and in 2017 received the Influential Education Leader Award at Cambridge University in the UK.