Ummul Quraa' Arabic Program.

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The Umm Al-Qura University has embarked on a project to make Arabic language learning easy for non-Arabs living in the Kingdom and elsewhere in the world.

The Makkah-based university, one of the oldest in the Kingdom, will develop an electronic program to facilitate learning of Arabic through the Internet and distance education system.

“We have decided to launch this project titled the Makkah Program to Teach Arabic Language to nonnative speakers considering the growing demand to learn Arabic worldwide,” said Dr. Ali Al-Harithy, head of the Institute of Arabic Language for Nonnative Speakers.

Under the new project, students will have to attend a four-semester program with 120 credit hours. “This program will be available not only for the institute’s students but also for others who can access to the institute’s website on the Internet,” he said. The website will also show live classrooms from the institute.

“Students in different countries will be able to follow lessons of this program through the Internet,” he said. Students in foreign countries, however, have to visit the Kingdom to attend a single semester to obtain additional skills.

Students attending the program will have to sit an exam in order to receive certificates. “The new system will increase the number of beneficiaries and save a lot of time and energy,” Al-Harithy said.

The examination, named Makkah Test, will be similar to Tofel for English, he said, adding it would help the university understand how successful were students to learn the language through the program. The institute, which was established in 1976, receives about 100 students from foreign countries annually under a scholarship program.

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