Quality assurance in higher education in 20 MENA economies

Promoting Case-Based Learning in Business Higher Education in the Middle East and North Africa Region

“…In a study of quality assurance bodies and systems in the UAE, Barqawi (2012) highlighs that the financial challenges that most higher education institutions are facing have pushed them to focus more on profit making rather than providing quality education. El Hassan (2013) extended this analysis to 20 MENA countries. Her findings show that the education quality challenge in MENA is rooted in numerous reasons, among which she cites: (1) poor curricula quality due to outdated content and the disuse of extra-curricular activities and critical thinking; (2) weak student assessment practices focusing on recall of knowledge rather than critical thinking and higher-level cognitive skills; (3) faculty qualifications are oriented toward didactic teaching, preventing the shift toward sophisticated student-centered learning approaches; (4) shortage of contextualized teaching materials (textbooks, journals, etc.…”

“…While the underlying reasons may differ from one country to another, there is agreement among researchers and practitioners that providing quality education still stands as one of the main challenges that higher education institutions are facing across MENA (Acedo, 2011; Assaad et al, 2016; El-Araby, 2011; El Hassan, 2013; Galal et al, 2008; Heyneman, 1997; Iqbal & Kiendrebeogo, 2015; Nour, 2011; Salehi-Isfahani, 2013), which, in turn, is widening the mismatch between the labor market needs and the quality of university graduates. This represents a serious challenge for MENA countries since human capital is one of the longest-lived assets in the economy, and, therefore, errors in producing the right human resources are extremely costly (Assaad et al, 2018).…”

“…It takes a complete revamping of higher education systems and policies across the region with more emphasis on quality and strategic investments in infrastructure and resources. However, among the key inevitable reforms deemed necessary to achieve this goal is the revisiting of academic programs and curricula to better prepare university graduates to enter the job market by introducing experiential learning tools that place greater emphasis on students’ active engagement, critical thinking, and higher cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills (Abdessalem, 2011; Assaad et al, 2018; El Hassan, 2013; Fahim & Sami, 2011; Galal et al, 2008). The case study method has proven to be an effective way of achieving this goal.…”

State of business statistics education in MENA region

“…In light of the aforementioned reforms and the resulting rapid quantitative expansion of HE, most of the MENA countries have established national bodies for quality assurance and accreditation to monitor the quality of academic programs and improve the employability of graduates (Lamine, 2010; El Hassan, 2013). While these quality assurance bodies are responsible for evaluating and accrediting both public and private universities in some countries such as Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Palestine, they target private universities only in other countries such as Jordan (Lamine, 2010).…”

Adult Education and Work Contexts: International Perspectives and Challenges

“…Syria, a former French colony with about 21 million inhabitants by 2011, is one of the Middle East and North Africa countries with the highest youth unemployment rates in the world (European Training Foundation, 2012). The first university was established in 1920s, and until 2001, when the state adopted a neoliberal social economy to license private universities, higher education was state controlled and publicly financed (El Hassan, 2013). After obtaining a General Secondary Education (GSE) Certificate, students are eligible for a four-to five-year university degree course.…”