Missions Impossible

Missions Impossible PDF Author: John Waterbury
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789774169632
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
A rigorous examination of higher education policymaking in the Arab world None of the momentous challenges Arab universities face is unique either in kind or degree. Other societies exhibit some of the same pathologies--insufficient resources, high drop-out rates, feeble contributions to research and development, inappropriate skill formation for existing job markets, weak research incentive structures, weak institutional autonomy, and co-optation into the political order. But, it may be that the concentration of these pathologies and their depth is what sets the Arab world apart. Missions Impossible seeks to explain the process of policymaking in higher education in the Arab world, a process that is shaped by the region's politics of autocratic rule. Higher education in the Arab world is directly linked to crises in economic growth, social inequality and, as a result, regime survival. If unsuccessful, higher education could be the catalyst to regime collapse. If successful, it could be the catalyst to sustained growth and innovation--but that, too, could unleash forces that the region's autocrats are unable to control. Leaders are risk-averse and therefore implement policies that tame the universities politically but in the process sap their capabilities for innovation and knowledge creation. The result is sub-optimal and, argues John Waterbury in this thought-provoking study, unsustainable. Skillfully integrating international debates on higher education with rich and empirically informed analysis of the governance and finance of higher education in the Arab world today, Missions Impossible explores and dissects the manifold dilemmas that lie at the heart of educational reform and examines possible paths forward.

Major Challenges Facing Higher Education in the Arab World: Quality Assurance and Relevance

Major Challenges Facing Higher Education in the Arab World: Quality Assurance and Relevance PDF Author: Adnan Badran
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030037746
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Book Description
This book focuses on two crucial issues that need to be addressed as a matter of urgency by universities in the Arab region, namely (a) conducting independent assessments of the quality of their teaching, research, administration, governance, and planning; and (b) determining the relevance of their teaching, research, and societal impacts. Although well-established around the world in manufacturing industries and private-sector service industries, including the research and commercialisation arms of the major universities and research institutes, it is only in recent years that quality-assurance (QA) assessments have started to be applied to most aspects education. Several Arab universities are adopting various forms of QA but some variants are little more than bureaucratic “box-ticking” exercises with minimal commitment by staff to the ultimate aim of continuing self-improvement. This book will be of interest to senior management at faculty and departmental level and above in all Arab universities specifically, and more generally in Islamic institutions of higher education. Senior management in other universities, especially in the developing world will benefit from its analyses and recommendations.

Higher Education in the Arab World

Higher Education in the Arab World PDF Author: Adnan Badran
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030581535
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Book Description
This book examines the unsatisfactory situation in the Arab world where there is a pressing need to address poverty, unemployment, political instability, corruption, and the existential threat of climate change. The authors analyze the relationships between universities and governments in the Arab world, and make recommendations that will help develop intellectual capacity and thereby aid the economic and social transitions so desperately needed in all Arab countries. Countries aspiring to participate fully in the global knowledge economy require dynamic university sectors operating in concert with governments that actively promote high-quality education and research and foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Successful university-government relationships can be complex and are continually evolving.

Degrees of Dignity

Degrees of Dignity PDF Author: Elizabeth Buckner
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487528957
Category : Arabs
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Presenting an analysis of higher education in eight countries in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, Degrees of Dignity works to dismantle narratives of crisis and assert approaches to institutional reform. Drawing on policy documents, media narratives, interviews, and personal experiences, Elizabeth Buckner explores how apolitical external reform models become contested and modified by local actors in ways that are simultaneously complicated, surprising, and even inspiring. Degrees of Dignity documents how the global discourses of neoliberalism have legitimized specific policy models for higher education reform in the Arab world, including quality assurance, privatization, and internationalization. Through a multi-level and comparative analysis, this book examines how policy models are implemented, with often complex results, in countries throughout the region. Ultimately, Degrees of Dignity calls on the field of higher education development to rethink current approaches to higher education reform: rather than viewing the Arab world as a site for intervention, it argues that the Arab world can act as a source for insight on resilient higher education systems.

Higher Education in the Arab World: Research and Development

Higher Education in the Arab World: Research and Development PDF Author: Adnan Badran
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030801225
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Book Description
Countries aspiring to participate fully in the global knowledge economy require high-quality education and research that leads to innovation, entrepreneurship and development. In spite of the large number of institutions higher education institutions, the Arab World failed to capitalise in research and development. This book will examine the current position of university research and development in the Arab region, note the main themes, their international impact, and propose new directions. Crucially, it will examine the underlying reasons for the underperformance, including specific government research policies, university-appointment and governance processes to stimulate research, funding assessment and allocation processes, resource limitations, and public attitudes. By substantially upgrading the research component of Arab universities along with the quality of education generally, the Arab world will have the vehicle to transition into peaceful, stable, and members of leading global economies. There are opportunities for inter-university cooperation and the establishment of regional university-linked research institutes with specialist facilities.

Globalisation and Higher Education in the Arab Gulf States

Globalisation and Higher Education in the Arab Gulf States PDF Author: Gari Donn
Publisher: Symposium Books Ltd
ISBN: 1873927312
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
In our knowledge-based world, the societies that prosper are the ones that generate knowledge - through research, through the interwoven relationship between the academe and funded research bodies and with industry. They are the new ‘centre’. It is strange indeed to think of the countries of the Arab Gulf States as the ‘periphery’. But, as the authors of this book argue very persuasively, by importing a ‘baroque arsenal’ of increasingly sophisticated and costly educational programmes, the Arab Gulf States consume other countries’ knowledge and products, all of which are of declining utility and sustainability. Whilst universities contribute to the culture and political life of modern society, the authors ask - where in the Arab Gulf States is there capacity building, knowledge generation and the culture of imaginative ideas that lie at the root of any civilisation? By following a ‘magistracy’ on a global journey through regions, nations and into institutions, their answers are intended to inform and to urge the Arab Gulf region into promoting education for its own self determination and even its survival.

Universities in Arab Countries: An Urgent Need for Change

Universities in Arab Countries: An Urgent Need for Change PDF Author: Elias Baydoun
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319731114
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 317

Book Description
This book provides an overview of the current state of universities in the Arab world, and how they have the potential to transform society to raise the quality of life and stimulate wealth. The main themes progress from general to the specific. Each chapter providing an overview followed by factual analysis and options for the way forward. All of the major challenges facing universities in general are addressed with reference to issues of particular importance in the Arab Region. The challenges faced include: the need to accommodate a social model of life-long learning; the desire for institutional autonomy while interacting with governments; the availability of open-access online courses and distance learning. Arab universities are diverse, ranging from those entirely state-controlled and funded, to wholly independent private universities. The quality of governmental oversight is also variable, and some institutions are clearly unworthy of the appellation ‘university’. The book comprises of 20 chapters authored by senior academics with a wide international experience and a commitment to assisting the improvement of Arab higher educational and research communities.

The Political Economy of Education in the Arab World

The Political Economy of Education in the Arab World PDF Author: HICHAM. ALAOUI
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781626379350
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Book Description


Higher Education Investment in the Arab States of the Gulf

Higher Education Investment in the Arab States of the Gulf PDF Author: Dale F. Eickelman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783959940122
Category : Education and state
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Over the last half-century, the GCC states have invested on a huge scale in higher education, but the stated commitment to internationally recognized excellence has also to come to terms with tradition. These pressure points are examined here in a number of comparative studies, and cover among other topics: - higher education as soft power to promote regional or global influence - intense reliance on foreign instructors - citizen entitlements - badu and hadar divisions - gender separation - different visions of language of instruction - marginalization of foreign students and faculty outside work - branch campuses of foreign universities Despite efforts to train and employ nationals, the vast majority of health workers remain non-local, and major challenges remain in fields such as science and technology. Expenditure has not always led to the effective reform of underperforming educational systems, and institutions often fall short of their world-class aspirations. The studies in this book explore ways of making institutions better realise the balance between global and local.

Higher Education in the Arab World

Higher Education in the Arab World PDF Author: Adnan Badran
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030378349
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
This book is the first major account of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Arab higher-education sector. It provides an update of the current situation and advances reasons for the under-performance of Arab universities in international ranking tables and the weaknesses of Arab economies. Specific proposals are made for upgrading curricula and assessment procedures as well as providing an environment that fosters innovation and entrepreneurial behaviour. The roles of university-based technology and business parks are examined, with examples of successful business partnerships in the Arab region, Europe, and North America. Opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship have never been greater with the wealth of rapidly developing transformative technologies that are driving the international knowledge economy. This book puts forward proposals for the management and exploitation of intellectual property, and for establishing businesses.