Middle East set to benefit from Arab Entrepreneurship Education Strategy

Entrepreneurship for Arab Schools, which brings together Arab Ministries of Education, the Arab League, the World, business leaders and leading NGO's in the field, will decide on the way forward for an aligned Arab Entrepreneurship Education Strategy across the Arab region.

The meeting's objectives are to declare the imperative for an entrepreneurship education policy in Arab governments and to launch a regional strategy for integrating entrepreneurship education into national school systems across the Arab World.

A collaborative ethos will encourage participants to work in partnership towards a shared policy goal.

INJAZ hosts this meeting as part The Arab Regional Agenda for Improving Educational Quality (ARAIEQ), which has launched a regional initiative focused on improving education quality.

This initiative has been supported by important global and regional organizations in both the public and the private sectors including the World Bank, UNESCO, Qatar Foundation, Microsoft, Intel and others.

It also received the unanimous endorsement of the Arab Ministers of Education in their meeting held in Tunis on December 20th, 2010. Members from ARAIEQ, Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the World Bank will join academic experts as well as representatives from the private sector, civil society and government bodies at the event to launch this joint policy initiative.

As one of 5 pillars of ARAIEQ Regional Agenda - the Arab Program Entrepreneurship Education and Innovation - INJAZ is creating the Arab Strategy for Entrepreneurship Education with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The meeting will support the evolution of INJAZ's ARAIEQ agenda and attendees will be invited to table ideas to improve research and collaborative partnerships.

INJAZ Al-Arab Regional Director and Junior Achievement Senior Vice President MENA, Soraya Salti will participate in the plenary sessions, which includes experts from PwC, the Arab League and the World Bank.

Highlighting the significance of the event, Salti said, "INJAZ Al- Arab is proud to facilitate the Educators Meeting with the support of World Economic Forum, the World Bank and PwC. We aim to engage in constructive dialogue to define an aligned strategy towards instilling entrepreneurship education in the region which will have a profound impact on the next generation of leaders in business, government and civil society."

In parallel with the Educators' Meeting, the 6th Annual INJAZ Young Entrepreneurs' Competition (YEC) will take place in Doha on November 4-6th, 2012. The regional competition is held to recognize INJAZ's top student companies from around the region from its Company Programme, which is held in 13 Arab countries every year.

The event will bring together an array of public, private and civil sector leaders from across the region to celebrate the achievements of INJAZ students and schools. Attendees of the Educator's Meeting will attend the YEC to see examples of entrepreneurship education in action.