Last week the President attended a conference in Oman hosted by Gulf College titled “Handling the global challenges for Middle East universities” and organized by ARELEN, Cardiff Metropolitan University and the Association of Arab Universities and facilitated by David Lock, Chief Executive of the Magna Charta. Presentations were made by the Chief Executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, Deputy President of University of Bologna, President and Pro Vice Chancellor of Cardiff Met, and Dean of Gulf College.

It appears that most universities in the Arab World are facing similar issues related to accreditation, use of traditional methods of teaching, lack of research, recruitment and retention of talented staff, the students’ voice, quality assurance, use of technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, and capacity creation.