10-year plan aims to boost HE for sustainable development

The 22 member states of the Arab League have adopted an ambitious joint 10-year higher education and scientific research action plan aimed at boosting digital transformation, innovation, entrepreneurship and internationalisation, and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Arab region.

The “forward-looking plan for developing and improving education in the Arab world” was presented at the 14th session of the Conference of Arab Education Ministers held under the theme of “Comprehensive education and empowering teachers: a strategic vision for education in the Arab world” in Doha, Qatar from 5 to 7 January.

The conference was organised by Qatar’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science in collaboration with the Tunisia-based Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (ALECSO).

Inclusive and quality education

In his opening speech, Qatar’s Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Ibrahim bin Saleh al-Nuaimi, is reported to have said: “Education is not just a means of transferring knowledge, but rather a foundation that enables individuals to reach their full potential and enhances the well-being of society as a whole.”

He indicated that “education is the enabling tool towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the fourth goal, which stipulates ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

He reportedly said: “In light of the challenges facing some Arab countries due to crises and conflicts, the importance of joint action to ensure the provision of quality and comprehensive education is growing.”

The new plan deals with pre-university education, technical education, higher education and scientific research. It includes adult education and lifelong learning.

With reference to higher education institutions and their associated scientific research centres, the plan outlines several challenges, including university admission policies based solely on high school success rates and scarcity of funding, the latter being reflected in the quality of university infrastructure.

The plan also notes that Arab higher education sectors suffer from poor-quality university faculty, education programmes and graduates.

Arab universities also suffer from a lack of modern frameworks for sound scientific research, overly bureaucratic management, and weak governance, according to the plan.

Anticipating the future

The plan is based on an analysis of challenges and opportunities, with a focus on the development of educational strategies that anticipate the future and take into account rapid technological and social transformations.

It calls upon universities to enhance the process of digital transformation and adopt a triple helix model (involving universities, development institutions, and government), to internationalise universities and develop innovation systems.

To address the problem of graduate unemployment, the plan calls for the adaptation of Arab higher education systems to market needs by enhancing cooperation between universities and private and business sectors and investment in vocational and technical education.

The youth unemployment rate in the Arab region is currently among the highest in the world at 25%. As many as 40% of university graduates are unemployed.

In respect of adult education and lifelong learning, the plan calls for more emphasis on giving people the skills they need to access educational opportunities and enhance their own professional development.

The plan also called upon faculties of education to assume responsibility for preparing adult teachers.

It calls upon ALECSO to provide technical and financial support to all Arab countries to ensure quality education for all, especially Arab countries suffering from crises, and to ensure education remains on the agenda of Arab Summit conferences.

The plan also calls upon ALECSO to cooperate with the Association of Arab Universities to establish departments for studying the future in education and emphasises the need for more researchers dedicated to this activity.

During the conference, the Arab Model for Quality and Excellence in Education (AMQEE), which uses Arab standards, was presented, as well as a strategic vision concerning inclusive education and teacher empowerment, focused on building an Arab educational system capable of achieving equal opportunities and ensuring educational equity.

Increased state funding

Professor Mohamed Hassan, president of the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences and former president of the World Academy of Sciences in Italy, welcomed the Arab action plan.

“The action plan identifies several critical issues that Arab countries must address to transform their educational systems and tackle real-life challenges and sustainable development,” Hassan told University World News.

“However, in my view, several important aspects should be included or strengthened in the plan,” he said.

“These aspects include allocating a minimum of 4-6% of gross domestic product (GDP) to education, as recommended by UNESCO,” he noted.

Hassan said that the increased funding should focus mainly on building capacities in digital technologies, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) models to provide high-quality online educational opportunities to all students regardless of their location.

“The action plan must adopt inquiry-based science education methodology at all levels of education to develop students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for research and innovation to address sustainability challenges,” he explained.

“Arab countries should also increase the number of world-class universities and open the doors of these universities to talented students from other countries with limited resources. This approach will elevate their national educational standards and make a significant contribution to regional collaboration in quality higher education and research,” Hassan said.

Higher education expert Magdi Tawfik Abdelhamid, a professor at Cairo’s National Research Centre, told University World News that “several issues” need to be included in the adopted plan to deal with barriers to research and innovation in Arab universities “including administrative centralisation, funding constraints, and weak university-industry collaboration”.

“Boosting scientific research at Arab universities will help in facing the economic, societal, and environmental challenges facing Arab countries and enhance the leading role of higher education institutions in supporting the future development of societies across the region,” Abdelhamid said.

Regional collaboration

Dr Abdennasser Naji, a former adviser to the minister of higher education and president of the Amaquen Institute, an education think tank in Morocco, told University World News the plan is “aligned with the trends observed at the international level” concerning the future of higher education.

However, he said it needed to give further attention to the specificities of the Arab region and how to adapt local challenges with the development of the higher education sector.

“Arab higher education reform is crucial, but it can't be done successfully if our Arab societies and our states are not reformed,” Naji stressed.

“There are also several challenges that might face the implementation of the action plan at many political, cultural, and technological levels. The most dangerous challenge is the lack of unity between the Arab countries,” Naji said.

“Each Arab country has its own vision shared with its international partners, which will lead to a lack of co-ordination among Arab countries in implementing the adopted plan on the ground,” he emphasised.

He concluded that co-ordination among Arab ministries as well as universities and higher education institutions and academic communities must be enhanced to facilitate Arab cross-sector partnerships and collaboration.

The 15th ALECSO Conference of Arab Ministers of Education will be held in 2027 in Libya.