Professor Sultan Abu Orabi Secretary General Association of Arab - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Arab-Euro Cooperation on Higher Education

Professor Sultan Abu Orabi Secretary General Association of Arab Universities Amman, Jordan

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

• AARU's was established in 1964 upon a resolution issued by the Arab League.
• It is a non-governmental organization that has an independent legal character.
• Its membership currently includes 260 Arab Universities.
• Its permanent headquarters has been in Amman, Jordan since 1984.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

The AARU aims at assisting and coordinating the efforts of Arab universities to prepare capable graduates who can serve their Arab communities and preserve its unified culture and civilization, as well as to assist in developing its natural resources.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

AARU’s Main Goals

• Enhancing cooperation amongst Arab universities and as well as with world

universities.

• Cooperating with counterpart associations and institutions to raise the level
• f higher education, to promote joint research projects, and to exchange

results thereof.

• Coordinating efforts amongst Arab universities at international assemblies

and conferences.

• Supporting and encouraging mutual students activities amongst Arab

universities.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Councils, Centers and Funds

• 1. The Arab Council for Training of Arab Universities Students
• 2. The Arab Council for Higher Studies and Scientific Research
• 3. The Arab Council for Students Activities
• 4. The Council of Quality Assurance and Accreditation
• 5. The Center for Reserving University Theses
• 6. The Arab Periodicals Center
• 7. Fund of Supporting Palestinian Universities
• 8. The Arab Scientific Research Fund

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

• Higher education in Arab countries is considered recent.
• The number of Arab universities expanded from 233 universities in 2003 to

500 in 2012.

• The number of students exceeds 9 million and the number of faculty staff

members is over 250.000, the majority of whom are in humanities.

• At present, there are more than 200 private universities in the Arab world.

with around 30% students intake.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

• The percentage of the student to the faculty member is about 40:1 and in

some universities 100:1, while in the Gulf states it reaches up to 17:1. compared to the global ratio of 15:1.

• The number of undergraduate students is 90% of the total students number,

10% of them are graduate students.

• The cost of a university student in the Arab world is about $2700/year. In

certain Gulf countries, this figure may reach $50000 yearly.

• The proportion of expenditure on university education in the Arab world is

about 1.3% of the total national income.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Challenges The Arab world today faces a host of hurdles when it comes to higher education and scientific research including:

• Lack of clear focus on research priorities and strategies
• Insufficient funding to meet research goals
• Low awareness of the importance and impact of good scientific research
• Inadequate networking opportunities and databases
• Limited international collaborative efforts
• Brain-drain

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

The First Challenge: Quality Assurance

• Establish national quality assurance frameworks in order to guarantee the

quality of education and control its outcomes

• Develop, enhance and review current internal quality management systems
• Encourage establishing regional quality assurance networks to help

promoting QA of higher education in the region

• Build capacities for education quality assurance systems
• Enhance international cooperation in fields of Higher education quality

assurance

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating"

UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Second Challenge is Poor Scientific Research

• Arab’s expenditures on scientific research are about 0.2-0.4% of the

national income GDP, while it is around 4-6% in and industrialized developed countries.

• The number of researchers per million inhabitants is 450 in Arab

countries, compared to 5000 in the developed countries.

• Low outputs of Scientific research (publications and patents).
• Scientific research of graduate students is rather traditional and does

not tackle socio-economic development.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

• Lack of cooperation and coordination among universities as well as lack of

exchange of information, experiences, publications and co-research.

• Disconnection between scientific research and national sustainable

development plans.

• Fragility of university education systems in general due to its novelty where

most universities have been established in the last quarter of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century.

• Low quality of education due to the inflation of student number and limited

number of available staff members.

• Lack of universities’ autonomy, governance and institutional performance.
• Weak quality of HE outputs.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating"

UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

AArU Partnership in EU Projects TEMPUS 1.Leadership in Higher Education Management

• 2. Enhancing Quality Assurance Management in Jordanian Universities
• 3. Building Capacity for University Management in the ENPI South Region
• 4. Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of Arab Universities
• 5. Modernisation of Institutional Management of Internationalisation in South

Neighbouring Countries

• 6. Enhancing Quality for Technology-Enhanced Learning at Jordanian Universities
• 7. Knowledge of Recognition Procedures in ENPI South Countries

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

AArU Partnership in EU Projects ERASMUS Mundus Action 2 Strand 1 1. AVEMPACE 1, 2,3 , TU-Berlin, Germany 2. PEACE 1 and 2, Santiago Composetila, Spain 3. EPIC, Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK

• 4. Fatima Al-Fihri 1 and 2, University of Duesto. Spain

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Conferences (1) Arab-Malaysian Higher Education Summit, 2-6 October 2012, Kuala Lampor, Malaysia. (2) First Arab-Euro Conference on Higher Education, Barcelona University, Spain, May-1 June 2013 (3) Second Arab-Euro Conference on Higher Education, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Jordan, 10-12 June 2013 (4) First Arab-Asian Conference on Higher Education, Mansoura University, Egypt 27-29 November 2013. (5) Arab-Turkish Conference on Higher Education, 26-28 April 2013.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

AArU also seeks to enhance cooperation with European universities through UNICA and other EU associations and networks in order to develop human resources and promote understanding.

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Thank You

Rectors Seminar "UNICA and the Southern Mediterranean: Sharing, Learning, Cooperating" UNICA General Assembly 2013, 7-9 November 2013, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy