MAGHREB: New regional and US science partnerships

North African countries are planning to boost higher education and scientific capacity by establishing a University of the Maghreb and an Academy of Sciences of the Maghreb as well as forging partnerships with the United States.

Work towards establishing the university and academy of sciences was assessed at the first meeting of a committee of higher education experts from the five members of the Arab Maghreb Union - Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia - which started in the Libyan capital Tripoli on 12 March. (See Boost for Maghreb university cooperation).

The two-day meeting examined a project aimed at creating a university of applied sciences for Maghreb countries in a bid to give the region's students the opportunity to study and apply sciences and create links with leading universities worldwide. It is hoped the University of the Maghreb will also modernise and diversify the region's science and knowledge systems.

Meanwhile, following a February trip to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar earlier this month, US Science Envoy Elias Zerhouni embarked on a two-week trip to North Africa including Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.

The aim was to strengthen existing and forge new partnerships in higher education, science and technology through meetings with heads of state, ministers and representatives from the education, science and business communities.

The US Science Envoy Programme is a core element of the administration's commitment to global engagement in science and technology that was announced by President Barack Obama during his historic address, "A New Beginning", at the University of Cairo in June 2009 (See Obama's cooperation plan).

Another two US envoys have started separate journeys to Muslim-majority countries to strengthen and forge new partnerships in science, medicine, engineering and technology. Ahmed Zewail travelled in January to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, while Bruce Alberts will travel to Indonesia and Pakistan in May.

The envoys investigate opportunities in all areas of science and technology including mathematics, engineering, health, energy, climate change research and green technologies. They identify strengths and gaps in scientific institutions, and offer recommendations.

Speaking to University World News, Sadallah Boubaker-Khaled, a professor of mathematics at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Algiers, cautiously welcomed the new developments which he considered "very useful and important".

"However, US-North Africa cooperation must be based on real mutual benefits as well as respect and trust," Boubaker-Khaled said.

With reference to areas of cooperation, Norman Neureiter, Senior Adviser at the Washington-based Center for Science Diplomacy, told University World News: "Certainly health and medicine, climate change, renewable energy, water, ecology and biodiversity, to name a few examples, are non-sensitive and interesting areas of possible cooperation - as well as many areas of fundamental and publishable science."

The Center was established in 2008 to focus on raising the profile of science as an important element of relationship-building between countries and societies.