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Building a University Governance Score Card- AWI/MCI Program

Building a Screening Card for University Governance Background The world average unemployment rate for people aged 18-25 is 11 percent, while the average for MENA is 25 percent. In some countries such as Egypt, Qatar, and Syria, youth make up more than 60 percent of the unemployed. And in countries like Tunisia, University graduates are the group with the highest unemployment rate. One of the key challenges for all countries in MENA is to improve the moderate and fluctuating economic growth with low employment creation capacity in order to accommodate the growth in the labor force. The ability to create employment is a critical component to promote

economic growth and key for poverty reduction and equitable and sustainable globalization. It is critical to reverse the low ability to generate employment observed in MENA given the large and growing young population. To bridge the gap between education supply and labor market demands, more systematic attention to the outcomes of tertiary education and greater emphasis on accountability and incentive systems to improve service delivery are essential. Tertiary education enrollment is growing rapidly in the MENA Region. The average enrollment in MENA countries is above 30% of the population aged 18-24, which is high compared to other regions. Many countries have experienced rapid enrollment increases in the past ten years, and with the expansion of secondary education and increased number of secondary graduates throughout the region, this trend is likely to increase in the coming years. In addition to this rapid expansion, tertiary education systems are seeking to diversify the type of tertiary education available, ranging from University graduate and undergraduate programs, to technical and professional degrees granted by polytechnic institutes, Community Colleges, as well as Open University programs. There is also a wide interest in the region for developing e-learning and distance education tertiary programs, and for many of the countries in the region, the expansion of the provision of private tertiary education is stated as one of their goals for the near future. Universities are relevant institutions in promoting economic growth and promoting civil society participation. Not only for their capacity to create and disseminate knowledge, but also as organizations that attract talented people, inject new ideas, enrich cultural life and are regarded as encompassing the whole social fabric of which they are part. They are interesting development partners because they are resourceful actors and they link up with many realms of society and strands of activity. Modern universities are linked to the economic and political environment in which they operate. Globalization and mobility of students have brought important challenges to Universities all over the World. In the past two decades, University Reforms have been observed in most OECD countries, and this trend is now seen World Wide. In Europe, the Bologna process, the European Qualifications Framework and the declaration of the Lisbon goals, are defining important drivers of change in tertiary education. The effects of these European processes are seen outside of Europe, and the tools brought in to harmonize programs, provide quality control and emphasize outcomes, are being used widely not only for countries in the European Neighbourhood, or aspiring to be part of the European Higher Education Area. These are tools used in the US and Canada, Australia, and more recently in Latin America, East Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. One of the key elements that have been the recent focus of these trends in Tertiary Education reform World Wide is University Governance. A relatively new concept - the first typology was established by

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