Adnan Badran Chief Editor Elias Baydoun · John R. Hillman Editors Major Challenges Facing Higher Education in the Arab World: Quality Assurance and Relevance Major Challenges Facing Higher Education in the Arab World: Quality Assurance and Relevance [email protected] Adnan Badran Chief Editor Elias Baydoun • John R. Hillman Editors Major Challenges Facing Higher Education in the Arab World: Quality Assurance and Relevance [email protected] Chief Editor Adnan Badran Department of Nutrition University of Petra Amman, Jordan Editors Elias Baydoun John R. Hillman Department of Biology James Hutton Institute American University of Beirut Dundee, UK Beirut, Lebanon ISBN 978-3-030-03773-4 ISBN 978-3-030-03774-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03774-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019931021 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. 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Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland [email protected] Contents Introduction ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 1 Adnan Badran, Elias Baydoun, and John R. Hillman Quality Assurance and Relevance in Academia: A Review . 13 John R. Hillman and Elias Baydoun Transnational Education Networks of Excellence Based on Quality, Accreditation, and Recognition Management: A Holistic Approach . 69 Christian-Andreas Schumann, Feng Xiao, Kevin Reuther, and Claudia Tittmann Is There More to Quality Assurance Than Quality? ������������������������������������ 97 Ossi V. Lindqvist The Importance of Safeguarding Functional Independence in External Quality Assurance Decision-Making Activities . 109 Carol L. Bobby Evolving Landscape of Global Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities from a Graduate Education Perspective �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 125 Karen P. DePauw Reform of Higher Education in the Arab World . 133 John Waterbury Digital Transformation and Quality, Efficiency, and Flexibility in Arab Universities ���������������������������������������������������������������� 167 Milad Sebaaly v [email protected] vi Contents Indicators of Institutional and Program Ranking of Universities with Reference to the Arab World ���������������������������������������� 179 Adnan Badran and Serene Badran Quality Assurance in the Arab Region in the Era of Customization: Where Do We Stand in Terms of Relevance? . 211 Susanna Karakhanyan UNESCO Conventions on the Recognition of Higher-Education Qualifications ���������������������������������������������������������������� 225 Anasse Bouhlal and Peter J. Wells The Diploma Supplement as a Tool for Quality Assurance and Relevance �������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 237 Isam Zabalawi and Isil Tumer Floden Quality Assurance and Relevance for Competitive Higher Education: Context of Jordan ������������������������������������������������������������ 257 Adnan Badran and Marwan Muwalla On the Quality Assurance of Faculty Members �������������������������������������������� 277 Mohamed Bettaz and Marwan Kamal Role and Impact of Bibliometric Analysis of Research Productivity in Faculty Evaluation, Recruitment, Promotion, Reappointment, Benchmarking, and in Mission-Based Management (MBM): Experience of the Faculty of Medicine at the American University of Beirut (AUB), 1997–2007 . 289 Nadim Cortas and Boushra Rahal Quality-Assurance Agencies in the Maghreb Countries: Challenges and Opportunities ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 325 Wail Benjelloun Introducing Quality Assurance in Algerian Higher Education: The Case of the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene . 335 Ahmed Guessoum Higher-Education Relevance in Post-War Syria . 353 Hani Mourtada Unified National Medical Assessment: An Approach Towards Meeting the Needs of the Population During the Syrian Crisis ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 363 Mayssoon Dashash [email protected] Introduction Adnan Badran, Elias Baydoun, and John R. Hillman Abstract In a series of 18 chapters, this book reviews the roles of independent assessments of teaching, research, administration, planning, and governance in uni- versities in general and Arab universities specifically. It also considers the relevance of academic teaching, research, and societal impacts. The outcomes of actual quality- assurance assessments are described, and proposals made for future developments. Keywords Arab universities · Quality assurance · Relevance · Teaching · Research · External audits Following publication in June 2018 by Springer of our previous book entitled “Universities in Arab Countries: An Urgent Need for Change” (ISBN 978-3-319- 73110-0), we now address the closely related issues of quality assurance (QA) and relevance in universities, drawing on the expertise of 26 international experts. In an era of unprecedented social and technological changes, institutions of higher educa- tion throughout the world need to adapt to market requirements for their graduates and postgraduates as well as meet quality standards imposed by governments and demanded by students and by their parents and sponsors. Arab universities face particular challenges reflected in numerous reports from authoritative organisations such as the United Nations in its Arab Human Development Reports, the World Bank, and World Economic Forum, as well as detailed analyses by individual aca- demics and economists. A. Badran (*) Department of Nutrition, University of Petra, Amman, Jordan e-mail: [email protected] E. Baydoun Department of Biology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon e-mail: [email protected] J. R. Hillman James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1 A. Badran et al. (eds.), Major Challenges Facing Higher Education in the Arab World: Quality Assurance and Relevance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03774-1_1 [email protected] 2 A. Badran et al. Little has changed in the challenges facing the Arab world since we wrote the Introduction to the previous book. Socio-political development continues to lag behind that of developing countries in Asia that were once at the same stage of development. There has been a continuing failure to industrialise, export value- added goods, generate and exploit valuable intellectual property, create successful businesses, and fully integrate into the globalized economy. The 22 Arab countries have a combined population of around 407 million and most are classified as under- developed. There is widespread poverty exacerbated by political instability and high levels of unemployment and underemployment, even of graduates, coinciding with dramatic increases in the number of graduates and institutions of higher learning. Inadequate access to fresh water, food shortages, and lack of energy security also afflict significant sectors of Arab populations, a situation forecast to worsen with the impacts of global climate change. This aspect was the focus of our previous book in 2017 also published by Springer, namely “Water, Energy & Food Sustainability in the Middle East. The Sustainability Triangle” (ISBN 978-3-319-48919-3). Compounding the economic and environmental difficulties faced by Arab countries are relatively high birth rates, civil unrest, war, attempted cultural genocide, popula- tion displacement, and minorities placed under pressure. On first analysis, the future does not bode well for the young while Arab countries have authoritarian govern- ments, weak civil-society institutions, wide disparities in wealth, and substandard public finances. It is our view that rectifying the Arab problems can only come from a wholesale improvement in the quality and relevance of education in general, and higher education specifically to provide graduates and postgraduates to drive the necessary advances in economic and social development. Universities will shape the future. They are already beginning to act as the motive force for wealth creation and enhancing the quality of life. Nonetheless, most need to adapt to new ways of learning and utilizing