Regional: Survey Finds Widespread Research Misconduct

The combination of the pressure-to-publish, a lack of substantial ethical training, and low regulatory oversight – particularly in low and middle-income countries – has created a situation in which six out of ten academics admit to at least one instance of ethical misconduct in their career. Many of the transgressions involve “circumventing research ethics regulations” and “fabrication and falsification.”

Times Higher Education
November 14, 2017

Egypt: Government Seeks to Attract International Branch Campuses

Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt’s minister of higher education and scientific research, has announced new regulations that should encourage foreign institutions to invest in creating overseas outposts in the country. Additional indications of a more progressive academic agenda should further encourage that growth.

Times Higher Education
November 3, 2017

Saudi Arabia: Three Universities Receive Top Positions in QS Rankings

High rankings for these three institutions lends credence to the positive trajectory of current educational goals contained in the National Transformation Program 2020 and Vision 2030 initiatives, the kingdom’s blueprint for economic growth.

Arab News
October 20, 2017

Iraq: New University Has Iranian Ties

The construction of Al-Mustafa al-Amin University, funded and run by Iran’s Islamic Azad University, began in Iraq on August 14. After decades of upheaval, a period of relative stability (at least in parts of the country) the regionally active, yet relatively small Islamic Azad hopes to enroll 450 students in its first year.

Al-Monitor
October 10, 2017