CONTENTS

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Education in Thailand

REGIONAL NEWS
Africa
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Middle East & N. Africa
Russia & CIS

FEATURE
Free Degrees to Fly

Iraq

Arab Lecturers Flock to Kurdish Universities

The Institute for War and Peace reports Arab lecturers are increasingly taking jobs at universities in the Kurdish majority areas of northern Iraq, an opportunity that was largely unavailable to them under Saddam Hussein.

Lecturers of Arab ethnicity are now flocking to the three northern provinces in the Kurdish region to take advantage of its relative security and the high demand for qualified academics. Officials at Sulaimaniyah University say they are short of qualified and experienced lecturers, hence the active recruitment. In the rest of Iraq, lecturers face tough competition for a limited number of positions, as well as continued targeting from the insurgency opposing U.S. occupation of the country (see July/August 2004 issue of WENR). One of the major problems posed by the increasing number of Arabs teaching at majority Kurdish universities is the language barrier. Many Kurdish students educated in Kurdish-language high schools have only a limited grasp of Arabic, and therefore struggle to understand lecturers using Arabic as the language of instruction.

— The Institute for War and Peace
Feb. 24, 2005

Israel

Students Protest Plans to Close 10 Units at Tel Aviv University

After the government cut subsidies to higher education, the Tel Aviv University Senate in March approved a series of budget reforms that include closing and unifying approximately 10 academic departments and institutes. After the announcement, students from the university and representatives from the National Union of Students hit the streets in protest.

University administrators have not yet publicly detailed which departments will be closed, but an internal document circulating among senior faculty indicates those in the humanities, medicine and natural sciences will be hit.

Previous budget cuts have caused some universities to privatize their master’s degree programs and demand double the accepted tuition fees. Over the last four years, the Israeli government has cut its annual contribution to the tertiary sector by US$22 million. Faculty have been decrying the budget cuts for years to little effect, and have since thrown their weight behind the student movement. As a show of solidarity, faculty members called a one-day strike in March, canceling all classes.

Student protests later halted after the government promised US$72 million to the Higher Education Council, Education Minister Limor Livnat promised that a student representative would be added to the executive committees of all universities and that she would form “a national task force to advance higher education.”

— Haaretz
March 16, 2005

Jordan

New Assessment Exam Introduced

The Higher Education Council for Education (HEC) has introduced a university achievement examination (kafaa), which will be administered at the end of the spring semester.

The exam will be mandatory for all Jordanian university students in the final year of their bachelor-degree programs; it will be optional for non-Jordanians. According to the Ministry of Higher Education, the exam primarily will be a standardized evaluation of all students and public and private universities in the country. It will also be used as a means of international comparison. Jordanian students graduating from foreign degree programs will also be required to take the examination to gain a local equivalence of their degrees. A pass on the exam, however, is not necessarily required for graduation or credential equivalence. It will be employed primarily as a tool to control and assess the quality of instruction at local institutions.

U.S.-based Educational Testing Services has partnered with HEC to construct and deliver the new examination.

— The Jordan Times
Jan. 28-29, 2005

Qatar

Education Reforms Continue

Qatar’s education system will continue to undergo massive reforms, with public schools being turned into self-managing institutions employing international curriculum standards. The move was announced at a conference convened to mark the first anniversary of the reform policy known as Education for a New Era, and to present the ongoing achievements of the reforms.

The Supreme Council for Education, responsible for leading the K-12 education reform, has embarked on a five-year plan aimed at turning 140 public schools, out of an existing 220, into self-managing institutions guided by international curriculum standards. Twelve new schools opened in September, and a further 22 are scheduled to open this fall. Additionally, the Higher Education Institute, designed to provide university admission and career counseling to students and administer eight scholarship programs, will soon open.

The international curriculum will foster such skills as critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, problem solving and the ability to use technology. The reforms also stress autonomy, accountability, parental choice and diversity as important elements in lifting educational standards. As part of the accountability and benchmarking process, an annual quality-assessment system that includes surveys sent out to teachers, students, parents, principals and social workers will be administered. Data from the first set of surveys were released on the anniversary of reforms in March. Reforms at the primary and secondary level come in addition to the more high-profile reforms enacted at the tertiary level, which have so far brought four U.S. universities to Qatar’s Education City to establish branch campuses.

— Gulf News
— The Peninsula
March 16, 2005

Kiwi-Based Group Aids Education Reforms

After a successful year helping implement major education reforms (see January/February 2004 issue of WENR), Qatar in March awarded New Zealand-based Multi Serve Education Trust a contract to mentor seven more Qatari schools through a 16-month process of modernization and decentralization (see article above). Multi Serve also is running training programs for Qatari teachers seeking to work in the country’s newly decentralized schools.

— Scoop
March 16, 2005

Syria

Al-Baath Forges Links with 2 Universities

Al-Baath University and Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany have signed a joint cooperation agreement in scientific research. The agreement will facilitate staff and student exchange visits between the two institutions for lectures and research.

Earlier this year, the rectors of Al-Baath and Brunel University in the United Kingdom discussed increasing cooperation through the exchange of expertise, specifically in informatics.

— Syria Live
Feb. 20, 2005

Yemen

1,400 Religious Centers Shuttered

1,400 unlicensed religious schools have been shut down so far this year for promoting militant ideology and hatred toward the West, according to officials from the Religious Guidance and Endowments Ministry. Of 4,000 schools and centers that were inspected, 65 percent reportedly were in violation of national education laws. Officials say more closures will be carried out in upcoming months.

— Oman Daily Observer
March 17, 2005

United Arab Emirates

U.S. University to Establish Campus

George Mason University (GMU) signed an agreement in February to establish a campus in the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) region of the country. The Virginia-based university’s fourth campus is slated to open in fall 2006, with campus construction beginning immediately on 200 acres of what has been designated a free-trade zone.

Initial four-year undergraduate programs will be offered in business, information technology, nursing and pharmacy. A two-year master’s program in business administration also will be offered, followed by an undergraduate program in engineering. A center for conflict resolution, billed as the first of its kind in the region, also will be central to the project. GMU expects to enroll approximately 200 students initially, with a goal of more than 2,000 students in the next 10 to 15 years. All graduating students will be awarded the same degrees as those issued from GMU’s U.S. campus.

In related news, Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has signed an educational and academic partnership agreement with the RAK government to promote exchange and training programs for faculty and students. Under the agreement, NKU also will provide distance-education courses for school principals and administrators.

— Khaleej Times
March 4, 2005

UAE-U.S. Student-Exchange Pact Signed

An exchange agreement has been signed that links six universities in the United Arab Emirates with campuses in the United States.

U.S.-based National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, an umbrella organization for student affairs administrators, and UAE-based Student Affairs Professional Association recently signed the United Arab Emirates Student Personnel Exchange Agreement.

The aim is to give administrators from both countries a chance to learn and share educational, socioeconomic, political, religious and cultural differences and to gauge the level of interest expressed by students in participating in study-abroad programs. The participating universities from the UAE are American University in Dubai, Zayed University - Dubai Campus, Higher Colleges of Technology - Men’s and Women’s - Dubai Campus, Sharjah University and United Arab Emirates University.

— Gulf News
March 11, 2005

Belgian Business School Opens in Dubai

EHSAL European University College Brussels opened a campus at Knowledge Village Dubai in November. The Belgian institution is offering an executive international master’s degree in business administration, with a focus on entrepreneurship and family business management. In addition, it will offer a pre-master’s in business administration in English, fundamentals in business administration and postgraduate professional diplomas, among other programs. Classes began in January.

— Gulf News
Nov. 22, 2004

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