Higher Education in the Middle East and North Africa

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Introduction

   • Chang Da Wan, Abdul Razak Ahmad, Yew Meng Lai

   Pages 1-10

3. Arab Republic of Egypt

   • Mostafa Mohsen Radwan

   Pages 11-39

4. State of Palestine

   • Abdul Razak Ahmad, Chang Da Wan, Russayani Ismail, Yew Meng Lai, Zainal Amin Ayub

   Pages 41-60

5. Republic of Tunisia

   • Yew Meng Lai, Zainal Amin Ayub, Abdul Razak Ahmad, Chang Da Wan, Russayani Ismail

   Pages 61-86

6. Islamic Republic of Iran

   • Chang Da Wan, Russayani Ismail, Yew Meng Lai, Zainal Amin Ayub, Abdul Razak Ahmad

   Pages 87-105

7. State of Libya

   • Zainal Amin Ayub, Abdul Razak Ahmad, Chang Da Wan, Russayani Ismail, Yew Meng Lai

   Pages 107-126

8. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

   • Russayani Ismail, Yew Meng Lai, Zainal Amin Ayub, Abdul Razak Ahmad, Chang Da Wan

   Pages 127-146

9. Reflections and the Way Forward

   • Abdul Razak Ahmad, Chang Da Wan, Russayani Ismail, Yew Meng Lai, Zainal Amin Ayub

   Pages 147-155

10. Erratum to: Higher Education in the Middle East and North Africa

    • Yew Meng Lai, Abdul Razak Ahmad, Chang Da Wan

    Pages E1-E1

11. Back Matter

    Pages 159-161

    PDF

This book explores the prospects for higher education development in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. Adopting a South-South perspective (from the viewpoint of a developing country), it seeks to promote a deeper understanding of this colourful and highly diverse, yet volatile region. As such, it examines six selected MENA countries that serve as case studies for identifying the gaps and challenges as well as their potentials in terms of higher education development. Based on expert interviews and focus-group discussions with more than 85 individuals across the six countries and complemented by related facts and figures from both international and national documents, it presents an in-depth discussion and analysis of the countries’ respective political, security, and economic situations. These serve as preconditions for the cultivation of an environment conducive to facilitating the advancement of higher education. It also provides a critical overview of higher education in these countries, notably in terms of the current national system, legislative framework, accreditation, quality assurance, recognition concerns, and other critical issues that enable and/or constrain the development of their respective higher education sectors, and that of the region, as a whole.

• High education in Iran
• Higher education in Middle East
• Higher education in North Africa
• Higher education in Saudi Arabia
• Higher education in Tunisia
• Higher education in libya
• Higher education in the MENA region
• Outbound mobility
• Quality assurance and accreditation

• Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

  Yew Meng Lai

• Department of Strategic Studies, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

  Abdul Razak Ahmad

• National Higher Education Research Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

  Chang Da Wan

Lai Yew Meng is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. His research interests include contemporary Malaysian politics, Japanese/Chinese foreign policy, and East Asian as well as international security. He has also been involved in higher education-related research. Lai’s notable publications include the co-edited Security Studies: A Reader (Routledge, 2011); Nationalism and Power Politics in Japan's Relations with China: A Neoclassical Realist Interpretation (Routledge, 2014), and “Malaysia’s security concerns: a contemporary assessment”, in Meredith L. Weiss (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Malaysia (Routledge, 2015).
  
Abdul Razak Ahmad is a faculty member at the National Defence University Malaysia and is currently serving as the Special Advisor to the State Government of Johor, Malaysia. He is also the Founding Director of Bait Al Amanah, a political think tank based in Kuala Lumpur. His research interests are in the area of international security, counter-terrorism, human development issues and public policy.


Chang Da Wan (C.D. Wan) is a lecturer at the National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN), Universiti Sains Malaysia. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford in the field of higher education and was trained as an economist at the University of Malaya and National University of Singapore. His main interests lie in higher education and economics, and has been involved in a number of research and consultancy projects with the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia, UNESCO-Bangkok and OECD including the Review of the Malaysian National Higher Education Strategic Plan, doctoral education, academic profession, academic governance and leadership, research and innovation management, transition from secondary to higher education, and prospects for Malaysian higher education in the Middle East and North African region.

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