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 of 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 20 th century and at the beginning of the 21 st 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
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