Jordan

US Pledges $30 Billion to Educate Iraqi Refugees in Jordan and other Neighboring Countries

The top U.S. envoy on refugees announced in late August that the United States will increase its support to countries hosting Iraqi refugees with a US$30 million grant for education. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey said the pledge of support will help educate Iraqi schoolchildren and assist countries like Jordan, where tens of thousands of Iraqi refugee children recently began attending government schools.

Jordan and Syria host the largest percentage of the more than 2 million displaced Iraqis and complain of the increasing burdens on their health and education infrastructures. Smaller numbers of Iraqis have fled to Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.

In August, more than 40,000 Iraqi refugee children went to school in Jordan for the first time since they fled their homeland, amid concerns that the wave of new students could overburden the system. Jordan’s education minister Khaled Touqan said more classrooms and possibly new schools would need to be built to accommodate the influx. The United States has accepted a total of 190 Iraqi refugees in the last year.

– Associated Press
August 26, 2007

Deal Signed to Launch British University of Aqaba

A private Jordanian corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with a British-registered holding company to establish the British University of Aqaba, which would reportedly serve as an affiliate of UK-based Coventry University. According to the terms of the agreement between Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC) and Eastern Investment Group Holding (EIGH) the private campus would open in 2009, with a projected inaugural enrollment of 500, a figure that would increase to 5,000 within five years. The university would specialize in niche, high-demand fields such as aerospace engineering, management, tourism and hospitality and planning.

Present at the signing of the MoU were the Secretary General of the Ministry of Higher Education Dr. Turki Obeidat, the Vice Chancellor of Coventry University Prof. Madeline Atkins, British Ambassador to Jordan Mr. James Watt, Director of the British Council, the Iraqi Ambassador to Jordan and a number of Aqaba’s main investors and community leaders.

The university will be located in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, which provides not only a strategic geographic location in terms of attracting regional students, but also a positive investment environment and tourist attractions.

– Eastern Investment Holding Group news release
September 1, 2007

Saudi Arabia

Saudi University Reformers Look West

Students at Saudi universities complain that their professors are not adequately qualified to teach them the skills they need to gain employment at top international companies, an issue that has led the Ministry of Higher Education, not established until 1975, to focus on developing Western-style education. Until 2003, there were just eight universities serving a population of 22 million people. Since then, the Kingdom has been racing to catch up.

More than 100 new colleges and universities have been opened, funded by a tripling of the higher-education ministry’s budget since 2004, to US$15-billion. Saudi leader King Abdullah has provided $10-billion of his own money to establish a graduate-level science-and-technology university, instantly making it the sixth wealthiest university in the world. And the government has lifted a decades-old ban on private institutions, offering free land and more than $10-million toward scholarships and building costs for universities they hope will grow to compete with prestigious private schools in the United States.

However, throwing money at the situation is only half the battle. The kingdom is still highly repressive, making intellectual freedom and the ability to attract top international professors difficult, and pushing top Saudi students overseas. If attempts to diversify the economy from the export of oil are to be taken seriously then the government will have to increase tertiary access to a rapidly growing population, a majority of which is currently unemployable due to a lack of college degrees. However, the academic programs needed to train future scientists and entrepreneurs are in short supply, as Saudi universities focus overwhelmingly on the social sciences. In addition, teaching methods are outdated and there is a singular lack of emphasis on research, with just .25 percent of the country’s gross domestic product allocated for it.

A number of initiatives have been implemented to improve quality at Saudi universities. The first experiment is at the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. With its massive $10 million endowment and independent board of trustees, the university will have autonomy enjoyed at no other educational institution in the country. Set to open in 2009, the university will be aided by a panel of international experts and offer graduate programs through interdisciplinary centers rather than single-discipline departments.

At the undergraduate level, private universities modeling themselves on Western universities might offer the best opportunities for students. Less affected by government control, these universities are hiring consultants from top institutions of higher education around the world to advise on curriculum development and administrative matters.

Attracting well-regarded, international professors might be the biggest hurdle to overcome. In a society famous for its ultra conservatism, extra-curricular activities that might be added incentives in towns such as Boston are almost non-existent. One answer is to offer above-market salaries and enticing research grants in Saudi Arabia. Another is to create partnerships with foreign universities through which they will jointly hire professors who would split their time between the partners. In the case of King Abdullah University, incentives or “presents” will be given to partners for letting the institution benefit from their reputations.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
September 7, 2007

Syria

Iran and Syria to Establish Iranian University in Syria

Iran and Syria have agreed to establish an Iranian university in Syria and set up a fund to promote joint research and technological projects. The Farabi University — to be launched as an international branch of Tarbiat Modarres University (TMU) in Tehran, Iran, in conjunction with Syria’s Teshrin University — will focus on natural resources, marine sciences, animal and plant sciences, agricultural economics, forest science and environment, medical sciences, engineering and earth sciences. Opening the campus in Syria is part of TMU’s ambition to develop science and technology in the Islamic world, according to officials quoted by SciDev.Net.

– SciDev.Net
August 7, 2007

United Arab Emirates

UAE-based College Announces Plans to Open Campus in India

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) has announced plans to add to its already-existing stock of 14 domestically based colleges by opening its first overseas campus in Bangalore, India next year.

Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and HCT Chancellor, made the announcement in late August during HCT’s 20th annual conference. He also announced plans to open two new domestic colleges this year. HCT plans to enroll 16,500 students for 2007/2008, including 7,000 new enrollments.

– Gulf News
August 30, 2007

New York University Announces Abu Dhabi Plans

New York University announced in September that it will open a full-fledged branch campus in Abu Dhabi, to be paid for by the Abu Dhabi government, after negotiations that have stretched over more than a year.

The new campus will be headed by Mariët Westermann, a Dutch-born specialist in northern European art, who is currently the director of the university’s Institute of Fine Arts. Many details remain to be worked out, but the expectations are that while most faculty members would be hired from elsewhere, financial incentives would help lure dozens of New York University professors — and not just those interested in the Middle East — to the Abu Dhabi campus even if only for a semester or month-long course.

The projections are that the Abu Dhabi campus would grow to about 2,000 students. To get a degree, students in Abu Dhabi, like undergraduates at the New York campus, would take broad general education courses in their first two years. All instruction would be in English. Officials said the university would use Abu Dhabi as its hub in the Arab and Muslim world with hopes of attracting students both from Arab countries and from the Muslim countries of South and East Asia. Under its president, John Sexton, New York University has been aggressively globalizing (see article in the Americas section). In April 2006, the law school announced that it was creating a dual degree program with the National University of Singapore. In December, the university’s Tisch School of Arts said it would offer a master of fine arts in film production in Singapore.

– The New York Times
August 31, 2007

INSEAD Launches Abu Dhabi Campus

Top French business school, INSEAD, officially opened its Center for Executive Education and Research in the Middle East in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in September. In addition to its Paris campus, the business school operates a campus in Singapore. Research activities at the campus will focus on issues in the Middle East, and will cover areas such as humanitarian logistics, human resource management and information and communication technology.

– Khaleej Tines
September 12, 2007

Australian College Opens in Dubai Knowledge Village

Cambridge College International, a Sydney-based business college, has opened a campus at Dubai Knowledge Village. The business and technology school joins other institutions from Australia in addition to institutions from Belgium, Britain, France, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

– Cambridge College International
September 2007