Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah marks her birthday tomorrow, Sunday 31st of August.

This year, the Queen, an outspoken advocate of education both in Jordan and around the world, launched Edraak, a not-for-profit platform for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Arabic.

Recognizing the urgent need to expand access to high quality learning in the Arab world, the Queen Rania Foundation partnered with the Harvard-MIT consortium, edX, to Edraak. The platform offers Arab learners access to courses taught at prestigious universities such as Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley, amongst others, at no cost to the learner, with the potential to earn certificates of mastery for certain courses.

Edraak also develops its own courses in Arabic taught by leading Arab faculty members and well-known professionals in a variety of fields, offering original Arabic content. Since its launch in June, the platform has more than 92 thousand registered users from around the Arab world.

Edraak is the latest addition to a number of other educational initiatives Her Majesty has launched and championed over the past years including Madrasati, Queen Rania Teacher Academy, the Jordan Education Initiative, the Children’s Museum, and others.

Her Majesty is also the founder of the Jordan River Foundation, established in 1995 as a non-governmental organization dedicated to improving the livelihoods of families and communities across Jordan. JRF works through partnerships with the private sector to provide local projects that empower women and men, developing their knowledge and skills in handicraft production, entrepreneurship, and small business management.

Queen Rania is UNICEF’s Eminent Global Advocate for Children and Honorary Chair of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative. In 2012, Her Majesty was selected as a member of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's High-level Panel (HLP) which was formed to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for the expiry of the current set of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Her Majesty is also a board member of both the World Economic Forum and the United Nations Foundation.

*Petra