Iran
20-Year Plan Focuses on Science and Technology
The Iranian government in August announced a 20-year “comprehensive plan for science” focusing on science in higher education and industry-university research partnerships in a bid to promote a knowledge-based economy.
According to a 2008 report, International comparative performance of the UK research base, Iran increased its global share of research papers 10-fold to almost 7,000 papers versus 2007. The new initiative is designed to further increase Iran’s output and research impact.
The main aim of the plan is to move Iran from an economy based on natural resources to one more focused on knowledge production, technology development and commercialization of science and technology. The goal is to become the regional driving force in science-related knowledge production in Southwest Asia.
Quantitatively, the initiative seeks to increase the number of scientists to 3,000 per million of population, while also setting the goal of increasing investment in research to 4 percent of GDP, and to 7 percent for education, 50 percent of which will come from private sector investment. This would be an increase from current levels that stand at 1 percent of GDP, with less than 10 percent coming from the private sector.
– University World News [1]
August 30, 2009
Palestinian Territories
US College Builds Dual-Degree Program with Palestinian University
A joint program between New York’s Bard College [2] and Al-Quds University, [3] in East Jerusalem, is the first collaboration ever between a Palestinian and an American college to offer a dual-degree program. The four-year program, opened in Abu Dis, a village on the outskirts of East Jerusalem, will lead to a dual bachelor’s degree for 60 students in 10 majors. Once established, the program will accept 100 new students each year.
The self-standing autonomous college has recruited a new faculty and occupies a building on the Al-Quds campus originally built to house the Palestinian Parliament. Bard and Al-Quds are also planning a joint program offering a master of arts in teaching and a model high school.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [4]
September 24, 2009
Gaza University Shuttered
The Palestinian minister of education, Lamis Al-Alami, announced in early October the closure of Gaza City’s Al-Aqsa University [5] after the Hamas government, which controls the coastal strip, fired its president on Wednesday, according to the Ma-an News Agency. The university is one of the last major institutions in Gaza associated with Fatah, Hamas’s bitter rival for Palestinian leadership. In a written statement, the minister said that she considered what the de facto government had done to be illegal and that she was closing the university according to the powers given her under the Palestinian Law of Higher Education.
– Ma-an News Agency [6]
October 9, 2009
Saudi Arabia
English-language Instruction Approved
The Ministry of Education [7] has approved English curricula for non-Arabic language and Islamic subjects in Saudi private schools that adopt accredited international education programs. Schools must obtain preliminary approval from any reputable international authority that accredits international education programs.
The approval applies only to Saudi private schools and not international schools for expatriates. Saudi private schools interested in introducing an accredited international education program must observe the following ministry regulations:
- Internationally accredited education programs must be adopted according to the mechanism specified by the ministry.
- At least 50 percent of the curriculum must be allocated to Arabic language, Islamic culture, and social studies.
- A written approval must be secured from the guardian to be admitted to the international program.
- A trial period of three weeks from the start of classes must be given to students transferred from public schools to the new education system. The trial period is for the students to get accustomed to the new language medium and subjects. The students have the right to withdraw from the program and return to a public school. In such a case, the private school should form a committee that must explain the academic reasons for the return of a student to a public school. The committee must also make recommendations for exempted or credited courses for the student re-joining a public school, including new courses the student should take.
– Saudi Gazette [8]
September 13, 2009
Multi-billion Dollar Research University Opens Doors
Saudi Arabia’s new multi-billion dollar King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [9] (KAUST) officially opened in September, boasting one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, a team of top scientists and a campus where female and male students can mingle freely. The university aims to break both scientific and social barriers.
In mid-September, the university was opened to great fanfare by the kingdom’s monarch after just three years of construction. The high-tech research campus boasts huge modernist buildings on a 14-square-mile desert plot on the Red Sea coast, with a faculty of hundreds of scientists and students from around the world, reports the Agence France Presse.
KAUST has already launched joint research programs with numerous institutions abroad, including the National University of Singapore [10], France’s Institut Francais du Petrole [11], Britain’s Cambridge University [12] and Stanford University [13] in the United States. The university’s own research operations currently focus on nanotechnology, applied mathematics, solar energy, membrane research and bioengineering.
Classes, all taught in English, opened in September at the campus 50 miles north of Jeddah, with 71 professors and 314 graduate students; a further 504 students are scheduled to begin classes early next year. The aim is to expand to 2,000 students within eight to 10 years. The masters and doctorate degree students represent more than 60 countries, with some 15 percent from Saudi Arabia itself.
KAUST reportedly has a 10-billion-dollar endowment to fund research, and it has spent aggressively on salaries and scholarships. The university’s financial backing will allow all students to receive full scholarships covering their tuition plus a stipend.
– AFP [14]
September 21, 2009
United Arab Emirates
Government Introduces Measures to Improve Quality Standards
Approximately 700 Dubai-based universities, schools and other educational institutions are now required to obtain permits to operate under a new scheme to improve standards. No educational institution will be granted a license unless it has acquired a permit showing the agreed rate of fees and grades for courses, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) has said.
Higher education institutions will also need certification from the University Quality Assurance International Board. Mohammed Darwish, head of licensing at KHDA, told the news website ArabianBusiness that the move to tighten controls on standards was part of a push to become a “hub” for education. “The most important thing we can do is to raise the quality of education in Dubai,” he said.
– Arabian Business [15]
August 18, 2009
Number of International Branch Campuses Growing Fast, UAE Top Host
An international branch campus has been defined by the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education [16] as an institution that has the name of, and is operated by, a foreign institution, and according to a recent study by the British research institute, the number of such campuses around the world has grown to 162, up 43 percent in just three years.
Released in September, the study documents only campuses that award full degrees from the parent institution, so does not include study-abroad centers. Such campuses are relatively new, with only 35 in existence 10 years ago, according to the study, which also notes that such campuses vary widely and are typically run by globally recognized universities. A majority of these campuses are operated by universities located in Anglophone countries, with institutions from the United States operating a total of 78 campuses abroad. The United States is followed by Australia (14), Britain (13), and France and India (each with 11).
The top host for branch campuses is the United Arab Emirates, with 40. Other leading host countries include China (15), Singapore (12), Qatar (9) and Canada (6). The report notes that while there have been a number of high-profile closures in recent years, such as George Mason University [17]‘s withdrawal from the United Arab Emirates, over time, there have only been 11 examples of branches being shut down, 5 of them in the last three years.
A trend away from the traditional “North to South” model is evident, as institutions from the developed “North” set up shop in other developed countries, and institutions based in the global “South” build branch campuses in other developing nations.
– The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education [18]
September 3, 2009