Egypt

Scottish University Establishes Nursing College

Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh revealed in March it had signed a deal to create a new nursing faculty at the British University of Egypt in Cairo. The university has already worked in Saudi Arabia with businesses and the British Council to establish a college of nursing studies in Jeddah, which opened last September with 50 students. That initiative reflected a move within the kingdom to encourage and train Saudi Arabian nationals in professions previously dominated by people from the Philippines and India.

The latest deal, which will create the Maghraby International College of Nursing in Cairo, follows an agreement between Queen Margaret, the British University of Egypt and the charity Al Noor Foundation.

— The Guardian
March 23, 2007

Lebanon

European Union to Help Develop QA Agency

With funding from the Tempus program, Lebanon recently launched the Quality Assurance for Higher Education in Lebanon (QAHEL), a project aimed at improving the quality of higher education in Lebanon. The Trans-European mobility scheme for university studies (Tempus) funds projects between the higher education sector in the EU and its 26 partner countries. Tempus partner regions are the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. Quality Assurance initiatives developed through the Bologna Process will be used as a general guideline for the QAHEL.

— The Daily Star
Feb. 22, 2007

Qatar

US Higher Education Finds its Niche in Qatar

Five U.S. universities currently operate satellite campuses at Education City, a complex which will eventually include student housing, cafes, palm trees, more colleges (negotiations are under way with business and journalism schools), a US$8 billion teaching hospital, and thousands of students from Qatar and the broader region. Of the 500 students already studying, approximately half are Qataris. The project is the brainchild of the wife of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Sheikha Mozah bint Naeer al-Missned. She is the head of the Qatar Foundation, which is the main driving force behind reform in education in the Gulf emirate, and is responsible for distributing an estimated US$1 billion in construction costs for Education City. Tuition — which the Qatari government also covers if the student is a Qatari citizen — goes straight to the universities’ coffers back home. Moreover, the Qatari government offers donations, reportedly as large as US$50 million, to those institutions to further sweeten the deal. The five schools currently on campus are Georgetown, Virginia Commonwealth University, Carnegie Mellon, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Texas A & M.

— Christian Science Monitor
Feb 22, 2007

United Arab Emirates

MIT Signs $35 Million Consulting Deal to Develop Groundbreaking Technology Institute

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will work with a state-owned company in Abu Dhabi to create a new technology-focused research institute. MIT will receive funding of US$35 million to help develop research capabilities at what will be known as the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the first such graduate-level institution in the region. MIT will be working with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, which will be responsible for managing the institute. Under the deal, MIT’s responsibilities will extend to training faculty who will be sent to Boston in groups of 20 to 30 for up to a year to observe how the American university conducts research. Masdar will focus on energy, water delivery, and transportation, among other things. The institute plans to begin admitting graduate students as early as 2009.

— MIT News Release
Feb 26, 2007