Prof. Nadia Badrawi

1

Arab Cooperation in Quality Assurance of Higher
Education

• Prof. Nadia Badrawi
• Secretary General
• Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher
  Education
• Board Member
• International Network for Quality Assurance
  Agencies in Higher Education
• Member of the Advisory Committee
• Quality Assurance support program for African
  Higher Education
• Board Member
• Quality Assurance Commission of the Association
  of Arab Universities

2
Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher
Education

• Introduction
• Legal status
• Description of ANQAHE
• Challenges

3
Introduction

• The Arab Network for Quality Assurance for Higher
  education was an idea generated by some experts
  in quality assurance in the Arab World in a
  conference organized by the NQAAC in Cairo, Egypt
  in July 2004

4
Introduction

• A round table discussion on how quality assurance
  bodies in the Arab States might work together
  took place. The brain storming produced three
  possible scenarios
• to create a network
• to start an NGO for Quality Assurance
• to develop a commission for quality assurance and
  accreditation for Arab HEIs.

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Arab Network for QA Why?

• The need for having mechanism between Arab region
  to
• Exchange information about QA
• Construct new QA organizations
• Develop standards to initiate new QA
  organizations
• Disseminate good practice in QA
• Strengthen liaison between QA.

6
ANQAHE Driving Force

• The recommendation of the UNESCO
• The presence and effort of INQAAHE to support
  regional networks
• The existence and fast arising of other regional
  QA network around the world
• The wishes and perseverance of experts and
  directors of quality assurance in some Arab
  countries to cooperate together and strengthen
  the liaison between them

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ANQAHE

• The Arab Network of Quality Assurance in
  Higher Education (ANQAHE)
• is launched on the 9th of June, 2007 in
  Jordan

8
ANQAHE

• ANQAHE is an independent non- profit non
  governmental organization

9
Legal Recognition

• ANQAHE is working in association with the
  International Network of Quality Assurance
  Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and in
  partnership with the Association of the Arab
  Universities (AArU)

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Legal Recognition (cont)

• AArU is a well established non-profit
  non-governmental organization with more than 190
  HEI members in the Arab world
• AArU has a legal and financial identity
• AArU is recognized across the Arab region

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Legal Recognition (cont)

• The ANQAHE is incorporated under the companies
  Act 1985 as a private limited company. ANQAHE was
  registered at Companies House, Cardiff, the 18th
  October 2007 as nonprofit private organization .
  The registration number is 6403398.

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International Recognition

• Seeking for
• UNESCO
• INQAAHE
• British Council
• DAAD Bonn Declaration
• World Bank
• Regional Recognition
• AArU and AAU
• QA organization members

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The Mission of ANQAHE

• To ensure and strengthen the quality
  assurance of higher education institutions, to
  enhance the collaboration between similar quality
  assurance organizations in the Arab region and to
  develop cooperation with other regional and
  international quality assurance networks

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Goals of ANQAHE

1. Support and enhance quality assurance
   organizations in the Arab region
2. Establish a mechanism of cooperation in the field
   of quality assurance in higher education in the
   Arab region

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Goals of ANQAHE (cont)

1. Initiate and sustain regional and international
   cooperation in quality assurance in higher
   education
2. Exchange information on quality assurance in
   higher education
3. Develop a system for capacity building in the
   Arab region

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Objectives of ANQAHE

• Support, promote and disseminate good practice of
  quality assurance in higher education in the Arab
  region and to enhance continuous improvement and
  capacity building for quality assurance agencies
  in the region
• Advise, consult and establish standards and
  guidelines, to assist the development of new
  quality assurance agencies in the region
• Facilitate links and communication between
  quality assurance agencies

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Objectives of ANQAHE (cont.)

• Provide a platform for information on quality
  assurance standards, good practices and
  professional institutional and program reviewers
  among member organizations
• Develop a platform for information on
  qualification frameworks, recognized educational
  institutions and accredited programs in the
  region
• Support members of ANQAHE to determine the
  standards of institutions operating across
  national borders

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Objectives of ANQAHE (cont.)

• Provide members of ANQAHE with information on the
  quality assurance organizations in the Arab
  region
• Facilitate research in the field of quality
  assurance in higher education in the region

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Objectives of ANQAHE (cont.)

• Where appropriate, represent and promote the
  interests of the region, e.g., vis-à-vis other
  networks and international organizations
• Provide the service of evaluating the quality
  assurance agencies upon request.

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Methodology of ANQAHE

• Dissemination of information
• Reference to the databases and good practice
• Organization of seminars workshops and
  conferences
• Exchange experts
• Assist in mutual recognition.

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Membership

• Membership ANQAHE has two categories of
  membership
• Full Member
• Quality Assurance bodies
• Other Networks
• Associate Member

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ANQAHE Governing Bodies

• The governing bodies and authorities of ANQAHE
  are the responsibilities of
• The General Assembly
• The Board and
• The General Secretary Committee.

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The Foundation Board

• The board includes
• the president,
• the secretary general ,
• two vice presidents,
• five elected board members
• co-opted experts in QA

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The Foundation Board (cont.)

• The foundation board is composed from a
  combination between partners from the Association
  of Arab Universities, experts in QA from INQAAHE
  and UNDP and representatives of quality assurance
  bodies in their countries.

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The Foundation Board (cont.)

• The nationalities of the board members are
  formerly from eight Arab Countries that is,
  Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Sudan, Bahrain, Oman,
  UAE and Saudi Arabia

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The Foundation Board (cont.)

• Dr. Saleh Hashem as president,
• Dr. Nadia Badrawi as secretary general,
• Dr. Feissal Abdallah El Hag as vice president,
• Dr. Badr Aboul Ela, vice president,
• Dr. Abdel Rehim A. Hunaity, member
• Dr. Essam Al-Naqib, member,
• Dr. Essam El Khattib, member,
• Dr. Tarik Al Sindi, member,
• Dr. Salim Rasvi
• Dr. Abdallah Mosalam, member

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• Challenges of An Emerging Quality Assurance
  Network

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1- Identification of the Region

• The language
• The geographic location
• The system of education

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2- Small Scale Representation of all the
Countries in a Given Region

• Number of countries involved with ANQAHE are
  small. The 22 Arab countries are Algeria,
  Bahrain, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq,
  Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania,
  Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia, Saudi
  Arabia, Somali, Sudan, Syria, United Arab
  Emirates, and Yemen

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3- Diversity of the Nature of Quality
Assurance Bodies

• Semiautonomous bodies for Quality Assurance
• Independent agencies for Quality Assurance
• Unit in the ministry of higher education to
  oversee QAA

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3- Diversity of the Nature of Quality
Assurance Bodies (cont)

• Perform QA for private and/or public institutions
• Conduct institutional QAA and or program
  accreditation
• Uses imported system or developed national models
  
• Not started activities in the field of QAA

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4- Financial Constrains Especially in the
Foundation Period

• British Council
• The national and the international conferences to
  meet the responsible colleagues
• DGF grant from the World Bank
• Other regional funding agencies
• The presence of financial structure as the
  Association of Arab Universities

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5- Lack of Professional Quality Assurance
Expertise

• Number of professionals in QA are small in the
  Arab countries

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6- Communication Deficiencies withthe QA Bodies
in Different Countries

• Websites
• email addresses
• Conventional methods
• It took from us a significant amount of effort
  to identify the responsible colleague in every
  country and an even greater effort to keep that
  person consistent

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7- Political Intervention and Domination of
the State

• HEIs are public ones owned by the state,
  regulated, dominated and financed by the
  ministries of higher education
• The ministries of higher education fulfill the
  role of both service providers and evaluators
• There is a great political influence on the
  institutions and on the quality assurance bodies

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7- Political Intervention and Domination of
the State (cont)

• The private higher education institutions are
  also highly regulated and dominated by the
  ministries of higher education
• Thus there is a very high political influence
  intervening with competition on quality assurance
  within higher education institutions

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8- The Stature of the Network Should it be
Governmental or Independent?

• Should the network be a governmental and follows
  the ministries of higher education or be
  nongovernmental?
• Should there be a formula to balance between
  governmental and non governmental, and how?

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8- The Stature of the Network Should it be
Governmental or Independent? (cont)

• We started the Arab Network as a
  nongovernmental structure but the members are the
  quality assurance bodies and HEIs which most of
  them are governmental.
• The decision to be affiliated to the
  Association of Arab universities and the
  international recognition of the network has
  helped in partial resolution of this challenge.

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9- Emerging of Other Networks with Similar Name
for the Same Region

• The business of quality assurance and
  accreditation in the region is flourishing
• Profit and non profit organizations might have
  interest in establishing networks to open a work
  market place in this field

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9- Emerging of other Networks with Similar Name
for the Same Region (cont)

• This is a new challenge but the experience, the
  credibility of the structure and the activities
  of any network will be the main source of its
  sustainability

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• Thank you
• Dr. Nadia Badrawi
• nadia_at_badarwi.com
• www.anqahe.org