Iran
China Opens Confucius Institute
China has opened its first Confucius Institute in Iran at the University of Tehran. The global network of institutes has been established to promote Chinese culture and support the teaching of Chinese locally. Confucius Institutes already exist in 78 countries worldwide, including the US and the UK.
The institute in Tehran was opened by Xie Xiaoyan, the Chinese Ambassador to Iran, who said the move would improve cooperation between universities in the two countries.
– Xinhua [1]
January 13, 2009
British Council Pulls Out
The British Council [2], which promotes British cultural and educational opportunities abroad, has suspended its Iran program, citing growing pressure from the Iranian government on staff members in Tehran.
“In the last week of December, most of the 16 locally appointed members of staff were summoned for interviews at the Iranian Office of the President, where it was suggested to them that they should resign from their posts with the British Council,” the agency said in a written statement. Earlier, two other staff members who were leaving the country to attend a routine meeting had their passports confiscated.
Martin Davidson, the council’s chief executive, told the BBC News that the staff members were all locally hired; there have been no British nationals at the center since Iran stopped issuing visas to them two years ago. The council’s statement said that the agency has been instrumental in strengthening links between British and Iranian researchers and universities. Since 2007, however, escalating political tensions between the two countries have curtailed its work and it has not been permitted to administer language tests.
– BBC [3]
February 5, 2009
Government to Establish 7 International Campuses
The Government of Iran has announced that it plans to establish universities in seven countries around the world. Universities will be established in Afghanistan, Comoros, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates as foreign branches of existing Iranian institutions.
Arsalan Ghorbani, deputy minister of science, research and technology, told the Tehran Times: “The aim of the ministry is to boost international academic ties by establishing universities which will meet world-class scientific and research standards.” He said the expansion program was to encourage international scientific cooperation with Iran’s partners. Iran has been establishing branches of its universities abroad for several years in an effort to encourage scientific cooperation with other countries.
– IRNA [4]
February 15, 2009
Iraq
British and U.S. Universities Head to Iraq to Recruit and Advise
Representatives from 24 American universities and a delegation of British higher education professionals were in Iraq in January to advise on an ambitious plan to overhaul the Iraqi higher education system. They also attended student-recruitment fairs in Baghdad and the northern city of Sulaymaniyah.
With a relative return to normalcy, the British and U.S delegations of academics and policymakers visited Baghdad to assess how they might help resurrect a sector that was once “the pride of the Middle East”. The visit coincided with the launch of a new scholarship scheme by Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq’s Prime Minister that aims to help many more Iraqi undergraduates study overseas. The Iraqi Education Initiative, as Mr. Malaki’s plan is known, would be funded by a portion of the country’s oil wealth. Iraq’s Parliament must approve the plan, but Mr. Maliki has already secured US$55 million to set up the program and send 500 students abroad this fall.
Among those in the British delegation were representatives of the UK Government, Universities UK [5] and the British Council [2], in addition to representatives from British Universities Iraq Consortium [6] (BUIC). The BUIC and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills have commissioned joint research to address issues in Iraqi higher education. Some 250 American colleges were also invited to Iraq. The two dozen that accepted represented a cross-section that included the University of Bridgeport, the University of Oregon [7], and Valparaiso University [8]. Short-term goals are currently focused on twinning arrangements, joint research and the training of Iraqi students.
The January recruitment fairs for foreign universities were the first such event in decades. The recruitment fairs and the Iraqi Education Initiative were not mutually exclusive, as Mr. Malaki’s plans include sending up to 10,000 students abroad each year for the next five years to earn undergraduate or graduate degrees. Most of those students would be sent to Australia, Britain, Canada, or the United States. Because no scholarships have been awarded yet, most students attending the two education fairs were simply seeking information about the kinds of programs offered by American and British universities.
Iraqi students who have gained admission to American colleges are now able to apply for student visas at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, rather than having to go to neighboring countries to do so. Iraqi students who seek a graduate education and want to take the GRE or the GMAT, however, are not able to do so in Iraq. The closest city in which the tests are available is Amman, Jordan.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [9]
January 23, 2009
– The Times Higher Education Supplement [10]
January 29, 2009
Iraq’s University Presidents Visit US in Search of Partnerships
Seven university presidents from Iraq visited the United States in February looking to build institutional partnerships with American peers. The trip was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, and the presidents attended the American Council on Education’s annual conference.
The stated purpose of the visit was to expose the university heads to the newest developments in pedagogy, technology, and administration in the United States. But The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the presidents arrived eager to set up partnerships and sign exchange agreements with American colleges in a bid to offer training and research opportunities for faculty and students.
In interviews, the university presidents revealed that some Iraqi universities have been able to rebuild while others have campuses, laboratories, equipment, and textbooks that are still wanting. All agreed that the security situation has improved greatly over the last couple of years although expatriated professors are not yet returning. The most pressing issue, according to the university presidents is the need for help in reforming the higher-education system. After decades of isolation and neglect under former President Saddam Hussein, Iraqi universities operate with outdated pedagogy and lack research opportunities with international partners.
The presidents said that Iraqi universities have developed relationships with counterparts in Europe. Hussain Hassan Omar Khankah, president of Kirkuk University, in northern Iraq, said that his institution already has relationships with universities in Australia, Britain, France, and Italy. Meanwhile four or five of his students have been granted admission to American universities but none have yet been able to secure a visa to travel.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [11]
February 6, 2009
Higher Education on the Rebound
After an insurgent-led attempt to destroy Iraq’s system of higher education in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq, many are pointing to positive signs for a rebirth of Iraqi higher learning, once the envy of the region. A campaign of assassinations that had seen 340 academics murdered between 2005 and 2007, particularly among scientists and medical experts, drove thousands of researchers and practitioners abroad, while bombings kept students at home. A UNESCO study warned that targeted violence had brought the university system to the brink of collapse.
Two years later and the situation appears to have improved. Violence has dropped 80 percent since early 2007, according to US estimates, and now Iraq’s scientists are being urged to lead the country’s redevelopment. According to Salam Khoshnaw, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, many scientists have already returned. Khoshnaw says most academics in Iraq today have never visited foreign institutions. Now the government is trying to send as many scientists abroad as possible, in the hope it improves research capacity. Last year the government sent 1,500 lecturers and students abroad at a cost of US$10 million. Now there are plans to send 10,000 lecturers and students abroad over the next four years for research or to obtain masters or PhD degrees.
“We will support anyone, lecturers or students, who would like to conduct research abroad,” Khoshnaw says. “But even any students or lecturers who would like to conduct research inside Iraq at Iraqi universities, we will support them, all the expenses and everything.”
To help attract Iraqi academics back home, salaries have been doubled to US$2,000 per month, levels competitive with those in Jordan and Syria. The battle to upgrade the status of lecturers and teachers was led in the Iraqi parliament by the Parliamentary Education Committee, which realizes more is needed. The committee is pressing for action on four objectives: raising standards in education and research; matching research to social and economic needs; enhancing the sense of belonging to Iraq among students and academics; and updating the curriculum, teaching methods and laboratories nationwide. Massive infrastructure investment is also needed after years of under-investment and wartime looting. The committee has called for a doubling of the education budget.
One test of whether the new policies on scholarships and salaries are working would be the return en masse of refugee academics, scientists and doctors. But the signs are not encouraging. Although Khoshnaw denies there are trustworthy figures, a spokeswoman from his own ministry told the Los Angeles Times last October that 6,700 professors have fled Iraq since 2003, while only 150 have returned.
– SciDev [12]
January 23, 2009
Israel
Free Online University Set to Begin Classes
An Israeli entrepreneur is planning to start the first global, tuition-free Internet university, a nonprofit venture he has named the University of the People [13].
Shai Reshef’s idea is to utilize open-source courseware from universities that have put their courses online, available to the public free, and combine that with online peer-to-peer teaching to create a free university for students all over the world who can speak English and have an Internet connection.
The University of the People, like other Internet-based universities, would have online study communities, weekly discussion topics, homework assignments and exams. But in lieu of tuition, students would pay only nominal fees for enrollment ($15 to $50) and exams ($10 to $100), with students from poorer countries paying the lower fees and those from richer countries paying the higher ones.
The plan, as it currently stands, faces many questions including those related to credit accumulation, examinations and faculty. In response, Mr. Reshef told the New York Times that his new university would use active and retired professors — some paid, some volunteers — along with librarians, master-level students and professionals to develop and evaluate curriculums and oversee assessments.
He plans to start small, limiting enrollment to 300 students when the university goes online in the fall and offering only bachelor’s degrees in business administration and computer science. Mr. Reshef said the university would apply for accreditation as soon as possible. He hopes to build enrollment to 10,000 over five years, the level at which he said the enterprise should be self-sustaining. Startup costs would be about $5 million, Mr. Reshef said, of which he plans to provide $1 million.
– New York Times [14]
January 26, 2009
Palestinian Territories
U.S College to Open Campus in Collaboration with Al-Quds University
Bard College [15], in New York, and Al-Quds University [16], in East Jerusalem, will open a joint campus in September, modeled on the college Bard opened in Russia with St. Petersburg University [17] a decade ago.
The new college [18] will be known as Al-Quds Bard Honors College for Liberal Arts, and according to current plans will eventually accept 100 new students each year for its four-year program. The first 60 students are expected to enroll this fall and will be awarded joint degrees from Al-Quds and Bard. The autonomous college is recruiting a full faculty from scratch and will occupy a building on the Al-Quds campus originally built to house the Palestinian Parliament and Yasir Arafat’s office.
Bard and Al-Quds are also planning a joint program offering a master of arts in teaching and a model high school to be opened in 2010. Half of the US$3-million budget for the first two years is being donated by the George Soros Foundation, with the balance coming from Bard’s fund-raising programs.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [19]
February 8, 2009
Saudi Arabia
Ohio University Inks Deal with King Saud University
Kent State University [20] (KSU) and King Saud University [21] have signed a US$3.4 million deal that will see Kent State provide entrepreneurial instruction and curriculum development at Saudi Arabia’s largest university.
According to Dr. Steve O. Michael, Kent State vice provost for diversity and academic initiatives for KSU, the overarching purpose of the project is to connect Kent State with the Middle East and allow the university to develop further collaborations with leading universities in the region.
Kent State professors will teach classes on entrepreneurship to students in their foundation year, as well as helping develop curricula and textbooks. The first phase of the Kent State-King Saud partnership is scheduled to continue through June 2010.
– Recordpub [22]
February 4, 2009
United Arab Emirates
George Mason Pulls Out
George Mason University [23] has announced that it will close its branch campus [24] in the emirate of Ras al Khaymah (RAK), after its local partners reduced the money they were making available while expecting the university to nearly double the number of students enrolled at the campus, the university’s provost said in February. George Mason is the first U.S. university to pull out of the Persian Gulf, after many high-profile universities have, in recent years, started operations in the oil-rich countries of the region.
The Virginia-based university began its Persian Gulf venture three and a half years ago and has been troubled from the outset. For the past two months, administrators from George Mason have been negotiating with Edrak, the private educational company that owns the campus and has paid for George Mason to operate it in RAK. Reportedly, the funding fell short by almost US$2 million, while an additional 120 students were expected on campus. This year, approximately 180 students enrolled at the campus, far fewer than the 2,000 students its planners hoped would enroll by 2011.
Many staff at the campus reportedly blame the low enrollment numbers on George Mason’s admissions requirements, which are among the highest in the Persian Gulf region. The university was not prepared to compromise its admission standards, which were the same at the RAK campus as at the home campus in Fairfax, Virginia.
For the 180 or so students in Ras al Khaymah, classes will continue until the end of the term, in mid-May. After that, students have been offered the opportunity to continue working toward their degrees at George Mason’s home campus.
– Inside Higher Ed [25]
February 27, 2009