AROQAE'S 4th Annual Conference opens in Cairo

The conference was inaugurated by HE Dr. Laila Negm, representative of the League of Arab States Secretary-General, and the League Delegated Minister. HE commended the efforts of Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh to improve the education in the Arab world. She also confirmed the League's support to AROQAE.

She pointed out to the plan of developing education in the Arab world which the League approved in Damascus Summit and gave it high priority to the education quality assurance.

Dr. Negm commended the conference selection of "Methods for Consensus and Common Standards for Quality Assurance and Academic Accreditation in Arab Universities" as the education development seized the intention of the Arab League." The decisions of the previous Arab summits in Tunisia, Algeria, Khartoum, Riyadh, Damascus, Kuwait, Doha, Sirte, and Baghdad all emphasized on the importance of improving the education quality and build the scientific and technical competencies.

She also referred that in spite of such decisions and the efforts exerted by the Arab countries to implement such decisions, there are still big challenges facing the education in general, and the higher and university education and scientific research in particular, making it necessary and imperative to put out efforts together to overcome such challenges and upgrade he higher education conditions in our Arab universities by developing the scientific and technological capabilities, advance the scientific research institutions and provide the financial support for them, in addition to the dissemination of the quality culture.

Deputizing for HE Dr. Mustapha Musa'd the Minister of the Higher Education in Egypt, Dr. Fawzi Al-Turki delivered the speech of His Excellency in the opening session where he pointed out Egypt's efforts in the field of quality assurance. He also expressed his support to AROQAE efforts and appreciated the role of AROQAE president Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh. His Excellency called for upon for more cooperation between the Arab quality centers and councils.

He said that AROQAE did well by organizing and holding this important series of conferences on education quality assurance, and the cooperation with the quality and accreditation national bodies in the Arab counties, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, and the Association of the Arab Universities confirming that such conferences give a push to the progress and improve the life quality in our Arab World.

He also called for working on setting up an Arab plan for the higher education. He pointed out that the consensus between the education quality and accreditation systems, and the mutual recognition of the Arab higher education institutions and their outputs is of the main prerequisites to set up such plan. Therefore, the importance of this conference becomes clear as well as its results and recommendations.

The Vice-President of AROQAE and Secretary-General of the Association of Arab Universities Dr. Sultan Abu-Orabi delivered a speech in the opening session where he addressed the education conditions in the Arab World and the Association's efforts in establishing and developing quality council in the Association, emphasizing the Association's pride of the partnership with AROQAE and its appreciation to its efforts and the efforts of its president Dr. Abu Ghazaleh as well.

Dr. Abu-Orabi said, "We must understand that wealth is not limited to the natural resources, rather, it includes the human resources which are the most important element to invest the natural resources and achieve the economical development, and that the best investment is to invest in the human development. Therefore, the Association of the Arab Universities works on upgrading and advancing the university and higher education in the Arab World and activates the integration between the Arab universities by supporting them to qualify the human-being who can serve his nation and maintain its cultural and civilization unity, and develop its human resources to achieve its ambitions and expectations."

He pointed to the increasing number in the public and private universities in the Arab World which exceeds 500, most of which are modern.

At the conclusion of the opening session, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh thanked the League which contributed from the beginning in developing AROQAE thanks to the directives of the Secretary-General and his advisor Dr. Faeqa Al Saleh. He also expressed his pride of the partnership with the Association of Arab Universities and its Secretary-General Dr. Sultan Abu-Orabi.

HE Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh commended the role of Egypt. His Excellency called upon the conference to adopt Cairo Declaration on the establishment of Arab System to approve quality of Arab education, publish an Arab magazine on quality in education, and approve information technology in education.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said that the educational institutions, especially in the Arab world, witnessed significant developments such as the increasing number of the universities and students, the private sector investment in the higher education, in addition to the appearance of new types of education such as the open education and remote education, and this expansion must be accompanied by increasing the education level, quality and sustainability by setting basic standards on teaching quality, teaching materials, and teaching environment.

His Excellency pointed out that the educational institutions are aware of the importance of developing and implementing accreditation procedures and the methods of the quality assurance to prepare qualified alumnus which raised the awareness of the importance of quality assurance and accreditation, and the set up of mechanisms to monitor and assure the quality and follow up the outputs of learning and education is essential in the education process.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh requested to shift from teaching to learning, and orient the teaching towards creativeness to make knowledge a road for wealth making.

In response to the participants' orientations, Abu-Ghazaleh suggested establishment of advisory council with experts and representatives of Arab quality centers and councils. He also thanked Dr. Salem Al-Agtash, the Executive Director of the Arab Organization for Quality Assurance in Education for his effective efforts, and thanked the experts for their attendance.

After that, the proceedings of the conference started with the presence of Arab and Western experts to discuss the agenda and take necessary decisions. It is expected to announce Cairo declaration at the end of the conference.

The Arab Organization for Quality Assurance in Education (AROQAE) is an international non-profit independent association established in Belgium in July 2007 with the fundamental objective of raising the quality of education in the Arab world.