Regional
News
Middle
East
| Need
for Regional Accreditation Agencies Addressed
The
Eighth Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) meeting of higher education ministers ended in
March with a resolution to open agencies for the accreditation of
academic programs in universities throughout the Persian Gulf region.
The
meeting laid the groundwork for a new commission to handle the process
of regional academic accreditation. Currently, the individual ministries
each have their own processes.
Other
high-priority issues addressed at the meeting include the need to
mobilize resources and funds to support technological and scientific
research through existing courses and the opening of scientific
research centers.
Ministers
also discussed the importance of supporting the development of private
institutions as an important contribution to the overall quality
and efficiency of the higher educational system.
—
Gulf
News
March 6, 2003
|
IRAQ
War Forces
Kurds to Shut Universities
Since 1991 and the Allied implementation of the northern no-fly zone,
Kurds have administered their own universities in the autonomous regions
of northern Iraq. Now, with war raging in the region, the three institutions
– the Universities
of Dohuk, Sulaimani
and Salahaddin -- have
suspended operations.
The three
institutions serve 15,000 students in a variety of undergraduate and graduate
programs. On March 19, the Kurdish Parliament declared an official state
of emergency, forcing the closure of universities and all primary and
secondary schools. Kurdish officials said the biggest fear among Kurds
was being struck with chemical weapons. A chemical attack on the town
of Halabja in 1988 killed 5,000 people. For that reason alone, the region’s
universities were ordered closed.
—
The
Chronicle of Higher Education
March 24, 2003
13th-Century
University Bombed
Al-Mustansiriya University, which was founded in 1233, was hit by a bomb
March 23 during the U.S.-led bombing campaign of Baghdad. According to
Reuters, classes were not in session at the time of the blast, which injured
several bystanders.
The university
was built to promote Sunni Islam at a time when Baghdad was the center
of a vast Islamic empire. It has been part of the University of Baghdad
since 1962, when it was incorporated as a new university college.
The university
is situated behind the Ministry of Defense, making it vulnerable to stray
“precision-guided missiles.”
—
The
Chronicle of Higher Education
March 25, 2003
University
of Babylon Reopens 
The University of Babylon recently reopened after its closure during the
U.S.-led military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein. Several of the school’s
buildings were looted in the aftermath of the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s
regime. As of April 30, about 3,000 students – half of those registered
– had returned to class.
University
officials say they plan to make changes to Babylon’s curriculum,
particularly the teaching of history, to reflect the post-Saddam era and
to extirpate the influence of the Baath Party.
—
BBC
News
April 29, 2003
School
System in Disarray
Iraq’s school system is in a shambles after the war to oust Saddam
Hussein. Many schools have been looted and vandalized, and teachers say
they are trying to cope with children traumatized by deaths of siblings
and parents.
Some students
have begun returning to those schools that have been cleaned up, but only
for shortened days. Most parents continue to keep their children at home
for safety reasons.
Iraq –
with its lucrative oil industry – once boasted one of the best education
systems in the Middle East. Until sanctions were imposed in 1990, the
government allocated US$230 million a year to education.
The United
States recently announced plans to revamp the country’s curriculum
and to rewrite history and other textbooks that were heavily weighted
with references to Saddam and the Baath Party. There is no indication
yet as to when teachers will see paychecks again.
—
Gulf
News
May 1, 2003
JORDAN
Minister
Outlines New Credit-Hour System
Jordan is preparing to introduce a new credit-hour system for the next
academic year to unify secondary education into a single stage divided
into four semesters. The new system eliminates the 11th and 12th grades
and changes them into “the secondary phase,” Minister of Education
Khalid Touqan said recently.
Under the
new strategy, students will register for 27 to 32 credit hours per semester
to fulfill 100 to 110 hours over two years. Students who excel can finish
the high school period in three semesters, while others can continue for
four or more semesters, up to eight.
Touqan believes
the change will maximize ministry resources and allow some schools to
eliminate the two-tier plan, which has long been subject to criticism.
The new program will allow students to make their own decisions and will
likely relieve some of the Tawjihi (General Certificate Exam)
trauma that students and families feel during their final term, according
to Touqan.
—
The
Jordan Times
March 17, 2003
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
University
of Edinburgh to Enter Knowledge Village
Plans are underway to establish British University at Knowledge
Village in Dubai this October. It will be the only research-based
university in the region, initially offering master’s and doctoral
courses in the field of informatics.
According
to Mirza Al Sayegh of the Al Maktoum Charitable Foundation, British University
will bring the best of British education to local students and professionals.
Initially, courses will be provided by the lead university, the University
of Edinburgh; other top institutions will contribute as the university
develops.
—
Gulf
News
March 27, 2003
Study:
UAE Most Advanced e-Learning Country in Region
The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) academic subject
review project has highlighted UAE as the most advanced e-learning country
in the Arab region, where overall standards as a whole are quite low.
The project,
which studied 15 universities from the Arab world, selected Ajman
University as the top university for computer science in the UAE.
The project
is part of the UNDP’s program to enhance the quality assurance and
institutional planning process at Arab universities. The objective is
to introduce systems to assess program quality in Arab universities according
to internationally accepted criteria.
—
Gulf
News
March 6, 2003
SAUDI ARABIA
Overseas
Students Face Quandary
Saudi students looking for higher education overseas are caught in a dilemma
brought on by current events and a rigid Ministry
of Education.
Due to the
events of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and their aftermath, many
of the countries traditionally favored by Saudi students are making it
very difficult for them to enter. Paradoxically, the Ministry of Education
does not recognize qualifications from many of the countries that are
more welcoming.
The ministry
has released a list of more than 800 universities it recognizes worldwide,
but 500 of them are in the United States alone, with the rest in Britain,
France, Germany, Austria and some Arab countries, according to Arab News.
Due to financial
constraints, many students have appealed to the Ministry of Education
to recognize qualifications from universities other than those in the
United States and Western Europe.
Dr. Khalid
Al-Sultan, assistant director at the Ministry of Education, said the ministry
will soon release a revised list containing new universities, allowing
students a broader choice of study destinations and well-reputed international
institutions.
—
Arab
News
Feb. 20, 2003
QATAR
Educational
Reforms Spark Debate
Students are learning fewer verses from the Koran and more irregular verb
conjugations in English class in Qatar. Prestigious U.S. universities,
such as Cornell Medical School
and Carnegie Mellon’s business
school, are being lured to set up branch campuses. In January, the
country’s ruler, Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Thani, announced sweeping
reforms for the public school system under the development of Rand Corp.
Dubbed by
some as a revolution in education, Thani hopes the reforms will turn Qatar
into “a model state” for the Persian Gulf of the future, a
glimpse of the liberalization that some Bush administration officials
say would emerge if President Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq
were destroyed.
For many
conservative Muslim leaders, visions of Americans not only occupying military
bases but also influencing classrooms in an Islamic country is their worst
nightmare. Ever since the events in New York on September 11, 2001, leaders
have warned of a U.S.-led campaign to rewrite textbooks, change time-honored
teaching methods and cut back on the amount of religion in the curriculum.
In some Arab
nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the debate focuses on how or
whether the religious curriculum promotes intolerance and extremism. But
Qatar has chosen to not just rewrite textbooks but also to prepare its
citizens for a more participatory and economically competitive future.
Elsewhere
in the Middle East, the role of the United States in promoting change
has at times overshadowed the education debate. “American occupation,”
is how one Jordanian writer described a State Department initiative to
promote education and other reforms. Kuwaiti religious leader Abdul Razak
Shuyji dubbed curriculum-reform efforts “American interference.”
“A
curriculum should present our identity, our own history, our own religion,”
Shuyji declared. “It’s not for others to come and try to change
it.”
Others in
the region see a chance to push through educational reform. “We
in the gulf countries have debated among ourselves some of the shortcomings
in our developmental path, and we recognized we need to reform our system,”
said Mohammad Salem Sabahm, Kuwait’s minister of foreign affairs.
“First of all, in education. Not because the United States asked
us, but because we generally don’t provide people with the skills
[that are] up to the standards of the marketplace.”
—
The
Guardian
Feb. 13, 2003
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