RIYADH, 2 July — Academics and educationists gathered in Amman yesterday to map out a comprehensive strategy to improve education in Arab universities by breaking away from the traditional methods of teaching. The event has been organized by the United Nations Development Program, said Jose Eguren, UNDP’s resident representative. Eguren said an advisory panel comprising a teams of experts led by Rima Khalaf, director of the Regional Bureau of Arab States at the UNDP, had prepared a blueprint for a project that would expose Arab universities to international standards of evaluation. This blueprint will be discussed at the Amman meeting.
He said the project would scrutinize two areas — computer science and business administration — seen as key to generating a skilled workforce and developing a modern economy. Eguren said a sample of universities from the Arab countries are participating in the project by conducting an internal self-assessment, which will be followed by an external review.
The results will be used to develop a full-scale regional program benefiting universities across the Arab world. He said this initiative modeled on the fine-tuning of higher education in Western countries, which have been driven by demands for a dynamic workforce to compete in the global market place and dramatic rise in university enrollment.
Arab educationists concede that universities in their countries have been constrained by the decline in traditional sources of revenue and a rapidly growing student population with only limited public scrutiny and quality assessment. As a result, the introduction of independent professional reviews, audits and performance indicators have become all the more important. “By adopting independent professional peer reviews, universities in the Arab world will not only be able to respond to developments on the international scene, but also be exposed to healthy competition with greater institutional accountability and transparency,” said Khalaf in a statement. Khalaf had earlier served as Jordan’s planning minister.
The UNDP, the largest grant-based assistance program within the United Nations, will provide technical and financial assistance for the initiative. Based at the UNDP headquarters in New York, the Regional Bureau of Arab States has implemented several related initiatives, which include improving the curriculum and teacher training programs as well as capacity building in information and communications technology.
