E-learning officials from 32 universities and higher education institutions across the Gulf Cooperation Council met in Muscat on 5 October 2026 for the 25th meeting of the Committee of E-Learning Officials at GCC universities and higher education institutions. The meeting was hosted by the Centre for Educational Technology at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) under the patronage of its Vice-Chancellor, Sayyid Dr. Fahd bin Al Julanda bin Majid Al Said.

According to the University of Bahrain, the meeting’s recommendations focused on developing guidelines on AI usage policies in higher education institutions and preparing a study on the impact of AI agents on education, scientific research and university management. Neither SQU nor the University of Bahrain published the full text of the recommendations, the list of attending institutions, who will draft the guidelines or the study, or a timetable.

What was on the agenda

The University of Bahrain says the meeting reviewed Gulf experiences in competency-based e-learning and digital micro-credentials, AI applications in universities, instructional design in the age of AI, the use of emerging technologies to identify students at academic risk early, and the automation of e-learning systems and student information systems. It also followed up earlier recommendations, explored joint projects and set the committee’s future work plan.

The University of Bahrain was represented by Dr. Wael Mohamed Attia Abomesallam, Director of its Information Technology and Digital Education Directorate, who presented the university’s approach to AI and its completed and current initiatives, and contributed to drafting the recommendations, the university says.

SQU says the committee exists to strengthen cooperation among Gulf institutions in e-learning, exchange practice, pursue joint initiatives and follow up recommendations from previous meetings. In his address, Salim bin Jabir Al-Waili, Director of SQU’s Centre for Educational Technology, said that e-learning has become an integrated system combining digital technologies, data analytics, AI and adaptive learning, according to SQU’s account. He said institutions need a clear institutional vision and clear governance of e-learning and AI use to protect the quality of outcomes, data security, student privacy and academic integrity, while keeping teachers central to education.

Why it matters for suppliers

The committee is a forum of university officials, not a regulator. Any guidelines it produces would sit alongside rules set by national higher education authorities in each GCC state. But the topics it has chosen, AI usage policy, AI agents in university management, early-warning analytics for students at risk and micro-credentials, map closely onto products sold by learning platform, analytics and AI vendors in the region.

No vendors were named in either account of the meeting, and no procurement plans were announced.

What it means

TED analysis:

  • For university leaders: shared GCC guidelines on AI use would give institutions a common baseline instead of drafting policies one by one. Leaders should track whether the committee publishes them, and when, before finalising their own rules.
  • For suppliers: data security, student privacy and academic integrity were named by the host as conditions for AI use. Vendors selling AI tutoring, analytics or automation to Gulf universities should expect those terms to feature in tenders and contracts.
  • For investors: the agenda points to demand for digital micro-credentials, early-warning analytics and automation of student systems. A planned study on AI agents in university management suggests administrative automation, not only teaching tools, is under consideration.