Rwaq

What it is

Rwaq (رواق) calls itself "المنصة العربية للتعليم المفتوح" (the Arab platform for open education): an online learning platform that offers academic courses in Arabic across many fields, taught, as its About page puts it, by distinguished academics from across the Arab world. It is run by a nonprofit, the Arawaq Al-Ma'rifa Association (جمعية أروقة المعرفة), which the About page says is registered with the National Center in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a nonprofit organization. Its mission is "إتاحة التعليم الأكاديمي عالي الجودة باللغة العربية مجانًا لكل من يرغب في التعلم" (to make high-quality academic education in Arabic available free to anyone who wants to learn), wherever they are and whatever institution they belong to. Rwaq serves individual learners looking for free courses and certificates, and organizations that want to train staff or publish courses for Arabic speakers.

A platform built for Arabic speakers

The About page tells the story through a short timeline: Rwaq was founded in 2013, the timeline marks the founding of Maharah (مهاره) in 2015, Rwaq won the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah Informatics Award in 2017, reached one million students in 2018, and the Arawaq Al-Ma'rifa Association was founded in 2024. Its central claim is that it is "ليست ترجمة لمنصة أخرى، بل منصة بُنيت من الصفر لهذا الجمهور" (not a translation of another platform, but a platform built from scratch for this audience), inspired by the MOOC movement and created to bring the same change to Arabic-speaking learners, with content made for them rather than adapted afterward.

The home page reports "+5.5 مليون متعلم نشط" (5.5 million active learners) and "+180k" employees trained, while the About page invites visitors to join more than 3 million learners already studying on Rwaq in Arabic. The instructor section counts 300+ lecturers and 1000+ courses. It also counts "21 ألف مكون تعليمي" (21 thousand learning components).

What learners get

The About page describes the learning experience in four parts. Lectures are professionally recorded and split into short segments of 7 to 15 minutes, so they fit into whatever time a learner has, on any device. There are interactive exercises after each lesson, and instructors take part in discussions and hold live virtual office hours. Questions can be asked on the lesson pages or in the forum, where other learners, teaching assistants and instructors answer. And study is self-paced: "لا توجد مواعيد نهائية، ولا حدود لعدد الدورات التي يمكنك الانضمام إليها" (there are no deadlines and no limit to the number of courses you can join). A free account is the entry point, and a mobile app for iPhone and Android is announced as coming soon.

The course catalog currently lists 88 courses, filterable by provider and category. The categories are Islamic studies, Arabic literature and language, law, education, medicine and public health, social sciences and humanities, curricula and teaching methods, creativity and innovation, culture and media, languages and translation, and computer science and digitalization. Rwaq itself provides 48 of the listed courses, and partners such as a da'wa and guidance association in Al-Ahsa (17 courses), Microsoft, the Ministry of Health's awareness department, the volunteering administration of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and Monsha'at, the small and medium enterprises authority, provide others. The provider filter also lists Edraak (إدراك) with 2 courses. Examples on the site include courses on the rulings of zakat and of fasting, hadith sciences in three parts, the ten most important management theories, modern cost management, the Internet of Things, Excel dashboards, KPIs and OKRs, service marketing, e-commerce supply chains, 3D printing in manufacturing, Office 365 features from Microsoft, diabetes awareness from the Ministry of Health, breastfeeding, and a series on volunteering and sustainability. A "راحلون خالدون" section honors lecturers who have died, such as Prof. Abdul Ghafour Ismail Rouzi of King Saud University and his introduction to the history of Al-Andalus.

A single course page shows the detail. Personal strategic planning (التخطيط الاستراتيجي الشخصي), provided by Rwaq, lists 277 learners and an included certificate, has no prerequisites, and is taught by a strategic planning trainer over ten units that cover SWOT analysis, SMART goals, time management, a priorities matrix, lifelong learning, emotional intelligence, soft skills, Kaizen continuous improvement and financial intelligence.

Career programs and professional certificates

Beyond the open courses, the menu organizes study by career. Programs are offered for data analyst, software engineer, UX designer, project manager, digital marketer and cybersecurity specialist, and a trending skills section covers e-commerce, personal strategic planning, results-based management and occupational safety and health. The menu lists an AI engineer program as well ("مهندس ذكاء اصطناعي"). A professional certificates section lists the Google data analytics certificate, the IBM cybersecurity analyst certificate, Microsoft certificates, the Meta digital marketing certificate and CompTIA Security+, along with certificate preparation. The home page also offers a career interest assessment (مقياس الاتجاهات المهنية) to help learners find a direction.

Certificates

Completion certificates, the About page says, are awarded automatically on passing the final assessment in eligible courses, and it adds that "تعمل رواق بشكل مستمر نحو بناء نظام شهادات معتمد رسميًا" (Rwaq is continually working toward an officially accredited certificate system). The home page describes attendance and completion certificates issued by Rwaq and its partners, which learners can add to LinkedIn and download as a high-quality PDF, and each can be checked at rwaq.org/cert/verify. The home page claims the certificates are recognized by employers in the region and beyond, and reports that 87% of learners achieved their professional goals.

For organizations, instructors and partners

Rwaq Business (رواق أعمال) is the training side. The home page addresses companies, government bodies and universities, promising content customized to their needs, detailed reports and statistics on learners' progress, special prices for institutions and large volumes, and dedicated technical support around the clock, and it invites organizations to join more than 150 institutions that trust Rwaq. The partners page lists 32 partners, including the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States, Microsoft, the Ministry of Health and the Saudi Authority for Accredited Valuers.

Universities, government bodies, training providers and nonprofits can also publish their own courses. The partnership page says they reach millions of Arabic-speaking learners without building their own platform, through a process of application, an introductory call, an agreement, joint content preparation and launch, while "تتولى رواق إدارة المنصة، ودعم المتعلمين، والتقنيات اللازمة" (Rwaq handles the platform, learner support and the necessary technology). Individual experts can apply to teach, and students can become ambassadors at their university and earn an official volunteering certificate.

Who it suits and who it does not

Rwaq suits Arabic speakers who want free, university-style courses in their own language: a student deepening their major, a professional curious about management or technology, or anyone interested in Islamic studies, Arabic literature or health awareness. Its career programs and certificate preparation suit learners heading toward data, software, design or marketing roles, and Rwaq Business suits companies, government agencies and universities that want to train staff or publish courses for an Arabic-speaking audience.

It suits less well a learner who needs a formal qualification, since Rwaq's certificates are completion and attendance certificates and the platform says it is still working toward an accredited certificate system. Rwaq is built around teaching in Arabic, so it is for people who study in that language.