The Realities and Challenges of Regionalization of Higher Education in the Arab States

• In Event: Issues of identity, internationalization and leadership in higher education in Iran and Arab states

Proposal

More attention is being given in the last decade to regional level collaboration and reform initiatives as an evolution in the internationalization of higher education. Many regions of the world are building stronger regional networks and partnerships particularly related to international student mobility, study abroad programs, transnational higher education, and the increasing interest of research collaboration among regional universities, industries, and government bodies.
While there are extensive analysis and information on higher education regionalization in other parts of the world, especially Europe, Asia and Africa, to date there are few scholarly studies or robust research on the situation in the Arab States. The goal to advance regional Arab cooperation in higher education was first advocated in the UNDP Arab Human Development Report in 2002, yet it has seen little progress (Masri and Wilkens 2011). Thus, this study aims to fill this gap and provide in-depth analysis by exploring the progress, prospects, and challenges of expanded collaborative initiatives and partnerships in higher education in the Arab world and encourage scholars and policy makers to give more attention to the phenomenon of higher education regionalization.
The study utilizes the Functional, Organizational, Political Approaches model (FOPA) developed by Knight (2014) as the analytical framework considering the region’s cultural, political, economic, and social context. This approach helps to explore various actors, regional networks, and the political commitments toward building an integrated higher education system within the region. The regionalization efforts and activities in the Arab States are impacted by various political, economic, and structural challenges. Looking at all these contexts within each regionalization approach helps also to underscore different conflicting priorities or politics within the region as a result of the tension among these three approaches. For instance, the uneven development in each state’ economy, higher education systems, quality assurance, and interest in intra-regional collaboration are some of these challenges (Jafar & Knight, 2018).
Drawing on the literature and data from different international, regional and national organizations, this study shows that the Arab States are engaging in a variety of collaborative and alignment efforts across a wide range of programs, networks and conferences. Some of important programs that facilitate closer alignment among the region’s higher education systems are the Regional Qualification Framework, the Forum for Exchange of Student Training Offers, and the Database for Arabs Theses and Dissertation. These initiatives and programs are steered by many regional organizations such as the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education and the Association of Arb Universities. Being the most important approach to realize the agenda of higher education regionalization, the main political instrument implemented in the region is the Conference of the Ministers of Higher Education, which serves as a forum for the ministers to coordinate their policies and to deliberate on matters of common concerns and to promote a joint action regarding the development of higher education systems in the region. The University Governance Screening Card is another political joint effort to reform governance in Arab universities that aims to modernize the higher education systems in the region and to enhance the quality and effectiveness of institutional management (El Hassan et al, 2018).
The study finds that the development of regional level associations and networks of universities, quality assurance bodies, and research centers have helped to improve the overall quality of higher education and enhance cooperation across the Arab states. However, many of regional organizations faces variety of difficulties and obstacles to coordinate joint efforts (Badrawi, 2014; ALESCO, 2017). A combination of political influence and competition among higher education institutions are the predominant challenges that to some extents have an impact on having a solid outcomes of the regionalization efforts within the higher education landscape (Jafar & Knight, 2018). As a key aspect of regionalization, students’ mobility has witnessed a noticeable increase recently. Nevertheless, more students are still attracted to western universities outside the region. Similarly more researchers from the Arab states prefer to collaborate with scientifically proficient peers abroad rather than within the region mainly because of lack of domestic funding opportunities (Currie-Alder et al, 2018).
The study concludes that commitment to the regionalization of higher education in the Arab States is challenged by lack of a governance structure and funding, political instability, and keen interest for inter-region collaboration and partnerships particularly with the European Union. An effective Arab cooperation is a pressing necessity to bring about an educational reform in the Arab countries. With more political will and funding at the regional level, many opportunities could be created to produce a sustainable and effective pan-regional collaboration, especially in students and academic mobility, research collaboration, and quality assurance.
This study is an excellent fit for CIES 2019 theme ‘Education for Sustainability’ as the study examines the challenges toward designing a more robust and sustainable type of regional collaboration and integration of various approaches to ensure sustainability. The study also matches as well the Middle East SIG’s call for proposals most closely.

Authors

• Hayfa Jafar, University of Toronto

• Jane Knight, University of Toronto - OISE