Bahrain
Education Makeover Planned
A complete overhaul is planned for Bahrain’s education system according to the Ministry of Education [1].
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 [2]
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 [3]
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 [4] and the new Jordanian branch of the multinational Arab Open University [5] 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 [6]
May 7, 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 [7] 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 [8]
April 23, 2002
Syria
British-Syrian Dialogue Covers Education
The British Council [9] 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 [10] 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 [2]
April 29, 2002
The 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 [2]
April 26, 2002
First Virtual University Launches
The UAE’s first virtual university, Abu Dhabi Petroleum University [11] (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 [12] (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 [13]
April 4, 2002