The National Centre for eLearning and distance learning was established as a national plan for the utilisation of information technology and as an advancement in the field of eLearning and distance learning. The centre is dedicated to providing technical support in eLearning and its related infrastructure and supplying skilled consultancy, e-content methodologies with the best approaches and practices, along with the consultation on change management.

This vision has paved the way to developing and providing state-of-the-art technical solutions such as the unique National Digital Repository and learning-content- management system that support the design, development, and distribution of eLearning content within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond.

In implementing the national repository project, NCEL has been working closely with eXact learning solutions and its partner in the Middle East, UKS.

Maknaz, which supports 22 national universities in Saudi Arabia, provides a secure online platform for faculty members, university students, and the general public to share and access a wide range of educational materials. The online repository, based on the HarvestRoad Hive Digital Repository technology, offers both Arabic and English interfaces and has been designed to protect the cultural sensitivities of its target audiences, taking into consideration the stipulations of Islamic culture and values.

Maknaz has created an advanced pedagogical environment supported by up-to-date technologies, educational innovations, and high-quality interactive learning objects to enhance current classroom practices. It is integrated with all NCEL's internal repositories, including Qanatech and the Saudi Digital Library (SDL) as well as with a network of over 36 international repositories, making it possible for Maknaz users to search for contents across all these repositories.

NCEL's Manager for Planning & PMO, Abdullah Al Mogheerah, explains, "The Maknaz project provides a complete solution for the implementation, customisation, maintenance, and support of a reliable and effective online learning environment, including all the required hardware for sustaining a highly sophisticated environment supporting 22 leading national universities."