Regional
News
BAHRAIN
Education
Makeover Planned
A complete overhaul is planned for Bahrain's education system according
to the Ministry of Education.
The project
will be evaluated and discussed at a national conference before being
presented to the national cabinet for ratification. It is hoped the overhaul
will be implemented in September, at the start of the new academic year.
"The
aim," said Education Minister Mohammed Al Ghatam, "is to nurture
students with total personality competence. We want the student to move
from being the consumer of ready-made knowledge to a producer of knowledge."
—
Arabic
News
April 27, 2002
IRAN
Official
Fears Brain Drain of Educated Young People
Roughly 420,000 young, educated Iranians have left the country in recent
years, raising fears of a "brain drain" in the Islamic republic,
said Parliament member Esmail Jabbarzadeh in April.
Iran's high
unemployment rate can largely be attributed to students who have graduated
from the country's top universities and then left. Official statistics
put the jobless rate at 13 percent in March. By 2005, this rate could
reach "5 million," or 16.6 percent of the working population,
according to a recent forecast by Economy Minister Tahmaseb Mazaheri.
In a country
where 70 percent of the population is under 30 years old and where approximately
1.5 million young students are enrolled in universities, the emigration
trend is cause for concern. This year, the government has allocated US$12.5
million to stem the emigration.
—
IranMania
May 14, 2002
JORDAN
Government
Bolsters Distance Ed Programs
As part of a sweeping strategy to bolster the technology aspect of Jordan's
educational infrastructure, King Abdullah's government recently announced
plans to introduce distance-learning programs throughout the country's
public and private colleges.
Jordan
University and the new Jordanian branch of the multinational Arab
Open University will be among the first to offer the new distance-learning
programs, which are expected to begin this fall. Other institutions are
expected to join later. Education officials believe distance learning
will become highly popular in the coming decade and will be adopted by
most universities in the nation.
Officials
expect to attract students from all backgrounds as distance learners,
though they anticipate that working professionals will fill the first
class. At Arab Open University, founded in Kuwait in 2001 as the Middle
East's first pan-Arab university, recruiting begins this June, and officials
expect to get some 600 students. University officials foresee the enrollment
of 70,000 students within 10 years, and 200,000 at maximum capacity.
—
The Chronicle of Higher Education
May 07, 2002
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Palestinian
Schools Assess Damage and the Future
Now that many of the schools in the West Bank are open again, Palestinians
are assessing the damage inflicted on the education system as a result
of multiple Israeli incursions into the region.
Despite the
withdrawal of the Israeli Defense Forces, Palestinian towns and villages
have been cordoned off, making it difficult for students to get to classes
at their universities. Primary and secondary education has also been affected.
During the recent incursions schools were taken over, damaged and even
destroyed. The Palestinian Ministry of Education, and the
Ministry of Higher Education were extensively searched. Computer hard
drives and files were confiscated and erased. "All the information
we have gathered since 1994 is gone," said one school official. "The
injured body of our ministries [remains], but the brain is gone."
Many observers
say the damage to the education system will negatively impact children
for years to come, and without education, Palestinian youths risk being
further radicalized.
Munib Younan,
bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, agrees. "In the
long term, we will be dealing not only with traumatized children, but
children who have missed education that can help them to learn that violence
is not the best weapon against occupation."
—
The CS Monitor
April 23, 2002
SYRIA
British-Syrian
Dialogue Covers Education
The British Council plans
to bolster its country's relations with Syria by opening up a dialogue
that includes education and culture.
As a follow-up
to Blair's trip to Syria last fall, the British Council invited the head
of the Syrian Ministry
of Higher Education Hassan Reshe to Britain, where officials focused
on exploring opportunities for higher education exchanges between the
two countries.
As a result
of the meeting, officials from both countries are currently planning to
set up links between Syria's four major universities and British institutions
of higher education to facilitate staff exchanges and to establish joint
training courses and research projects. The joint projects will focus
on the following fields of study: information technology (IT), biotechnology,
engineering, the environment, and English.
—
Arabic
News
April 29, 2002
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Swiss
Education Fair Visits Dubai
Fifteen universities from Switzerland put their academic programs on display
at the second Swiss Education Fair in Dubai, attended by more than 300
students.
In addition,
the fair included exhibitions from, various secondary schools, boarding
schools, a hotel management school, finishing schools and summer camps.
The Swiss Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General in Dubai held
the fair in cooperation with the Dubai Swiss Business Council.
—
Arabic
News
April 26, 2002
First
Virtual University Launches
The UAE's first virtual university, Abu
Dhabi Petroleum University (ADPU), began accepting students for its
first master's program in petroleum engineering, a university official
announced recently.
ADPU is
expected to enroll 25 students for the program that will start this September.
Admission is open to both UAE nationals and expatriates, the official
said, adding that the UAE is in need of better-qualified and skilled manpower
in the oil and gas sector, since petroleum is the county's most vital
resource.
The university
has already entered into a partnership with a number of reputable international
universities, companies and training institutions, and has been working
to get accreditation with internationally renowned educational institutions.
The programs that will be offered through the university will include
postgraduate degrees at the master's level, applied doctoral programs,
continuing education programs, executive development programs and elective
courses.
The university,
based at the Center of Excellence for
Applied Research and Training (CERT) in Abu Dhabi, will be managed
electronically, and student registration, instruction, training and research
will be done through specific Web sites on the Internet.
—
Gulf
News
April 4, 2002
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