Regional

US Organization to Develop Study-Abroad Programs Across Arab World

In a bid to increase the number of undergraduate study-abroad opportunities for U.S. students in the Arab world, America-Mideast Educational and Training Services Inc., or AMIDEAST, will offer programs in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Tunisia next year.

The nonprofit organization, which has decades of experience in the Middle East, will offer year-, semester-, and summer-long programs. While intensive Arabic-language instruction will be a component of each, the programs will also include Middle East and North African studies.

Interest in the region has increased dramatically among U.S. students in recent years, with more than 2,500 participating in study-abroad programs in the region in 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, up from about 1,000 two years earlier.

The new programs will represent the first time Amideast has directly managed such programs in the region. It has worked with study-abroad partners in the past. The first program opened last fall in Morocco, with 16 students, and the rest will open in 2009. Amideast hopes to eventually accommodate as many as 700 students. A consortium of 17 American colleges and universities will provide oversight by conducting annual site visits.

– AMIDEAST news release
June 1, 2008

Iraq

$1 Billion for Study Abroad

Iraqi officials are formulating an ambitious plan that would help revamp the country’s education system and send thousands of students to study abroad. With funding of US$1 billion, the plan would see 10,000 students sent abroad next year and would begin the rebuilding of the entire education system. The plan was originally circulated by Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and presented to Iraq’s Parliament in May.

Zuhair A.G. Humadi, senior adviser to Iraq’s vice president told an audience at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference that Mr. Al-Maliki expected legislators to approve his proposal, known as the Iraqi Education Initiative. The money would come from revenue generated by Iraq’s vast oil reserves.

Under the proposal, which is scheduled for a fall vote, 10,000 students would be sent abroad each year for the next five years, under full scholarships, to earn associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Most of the students would go to the United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia because English is the second language with which Iraqi students are most comfortable, Mr. Humadi said. He also indicated that Iraq needed specialists in a variety of fields, including engineering, public and business administration, law, and allied health fields. He noted that community colleges in the United States were particularly strong in allied health, and Iraq urgently needed lab technicians, nurses’ aides, and other health workers.

– The Chronicle of Higher Education
May 30, 2008

Israel

Education Council Refuses to Recognize Degrees Awarded by Controversial West Bank ‘University’

Israel’s Council of Higher Education has ruled that it will not recognize degrees awarded by the Academic College of Judea and Samaria, after the college, located in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, unilaterally declared itself a “university center.”

The heads of the college said that the upgrade from “college” to “university center” represents an interim phase ahead of its evolution into a full-blown university. However, the state has announced that no new universities will be established in Israel in the next five years, and that is does not recognize the category “university center.”

Representatives from the Council of Higher Education emphasized that should the college rescind its unilateral decision, the degrees it issues will be recognized again. The Council of Higher Education has warned that additional, harsher sanctions will be placed on the college should it not obey the council’s directive.

– Haaretz
June 11, 2008

Lebanon

An Attempt to Stem the Brain Drain

The Lebanese American University (LAU) announced in May that it will cover the full financial costs of selected doctoral students wishing to study abroad, reportedly the first Middle Eastern institution to do so. In order to be eligible, the eight selected researchers must commit to accepting a faculty position at the university after they finish their coursework, and write their dissertations in Lebanon. The university would fund a return trip for dissertation defenses. According to university president, Joseph Jabbra, in an interview with InsideHigherEd, “the idea is already taking off like wildfire.”

Officials say the ambitious initiative is aimed at tackling a region-wide “brain drain” that has left Lebanon’s academic job market sorely depleted. Quantifying the actual numbers of departing academics from most countries is an inexact science; however, the intellectual flight of the Lebanese over the past three decades is already a matter of record.

Civil war from 1975-1990 caused almost one million people to leave, with as many as 300,000 leaving over the next 15 years. Nearly half of recent émigrés are said to be university-educated. The prospects for attracting future scholars continues to be dim considering the recent assassinations of high-profile politicians, a fledgling economy and frequent mass protests. The latest Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development figures show that 13 percent of the 57 million immigrants now living in its 30 member developed nations are Lebanese émigrés, a higher figure than for any other Middle Eastern jurisdiction.

The LAU, which is chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, enrolls nearly 7,000 students, with English as its language of instruction. To better attract scholars, the university has recently increased academic salaries to match those of many competing American institutions.

– InsideHigherEd
June 10, 2008

Saudi Arabia

E-Learning a National Priority

The Saudi Ministry of Higher Education is pushing for its public universities to introduce e-learning options by next year. The ministry has established a National Center of E-learning & Distance Learning, known as the ELC, to organize the change and prepare e-learning material. Nine universities have already agreed to implement the system. As part of the initiative, King Abdullah has called for a national plan to adopt information technology across the country.

The ministry has set up a repository for e-learning material to help universities adopt the system. As a start, e-books for engineering, medical, computer science and humanities courses will be made available. Training will be provided for academics that join the program. The training will be conducted by a team of experts that have recently returned from a trip to Australia to observe successful e-learning operations at Australian universities.

Arab News reports that the universities that have signed memoranda of understanding with the ministry to introduce the e-learning scheme include King Saud University, King Abdul Aziz University, Baha University, Taiba University, Qassim University and Madinah Islamic University.

– Arab News
May 11, 2008

United Arab Emirates

2-Year Montana Degrees in the Emirates

A research-based university in the United States is hoping to design and export two-year degree programs to Abu Dhabi. Montana State University formally agreed in June to develop plans to offer two-year Montana State degrees — intended to prepare students to enter the work force or transfer to four-year institutions — at the Abu Dhabi-based United Arab Emirates Academy.

Students would likely take one course at a time, taught in part by Montana-based professors who come to the UAE Academy’s campus for a month at a time or teach via remote technologies. Students would also be able to take up to one year in intensive English through a partnership with the A.C.E. Language Institute, according to David Dooley, the university’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in an interview with InsideHigherEd.

The programs would be designed for Emirati students as part of a larger government effort to increase the number of Emirati nationals (as opposed to foreign-born individuals) in the country’s work force. Montana officials said funding details are still undetermined. The June agreement was an intermediate, not a final agreement on the matter. Montana State has set a target date to roll out approximately six programs in fall 2009.

– InsideHigherEd
June 4, 2008

7 New Institutions of Higher Education Receive Licenses, 2 Upgraded to Universities

Seven new institutions of higher education have been licensed by the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR) to operate and accept students for tertiary studies. The Commission of Academic Accreditation (CAA), which is part of MOHESR, made the announcement in June. This now brings the total number of licensed institutions of higher education in the UAE to 53.

The institutions are Boston University Institute for Dental Research and Education, Horizon International Flight Academy, Al Ain; Masdar Institute of Science and Technology; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Dubai; Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research; Khalifa Bin Zayed Air College; and University College of Mother and Family Sciences.

The CAA website provides a full listing of approved institutions and programs.

Meanwhile, the status of two educational institutes has been changed from college to university. American College in the Emirates has been changed to American University in the Emirates and Skyline College is now Skyline University College.

– Kaleej Times
June 9, 2008