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Copyright 2003 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education

November 7, 2003, Friday

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL; Pg. 47

LENGTH: 424 words

HEADLINE:

Scholars Criticize Arab Colleges

BYLINE: DANIEL DEL CASTILLO

BODY:
For the second year in a row, a team of prominent Arab scholars has sharply criticized the state of Arab higher education, saying that repressive governments are hindering the growth of scholarship at universities and other academic institutions in the Arab world.

The scholars' conclusions are part of a 217-page study, "Arab Human Development Report 2003: Building a Knowledge Society," that was released last month. The annual study is supported by the United Nations Development Program and the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development. It is intended to provide a critical assessment of the problems plaguing the Arab world and its intellectual advancement.

"The biggest obstacle we are facing is the restriction of our freedoms. That comes at the top of the list," said Nader Fergany, the report's lead author and director of the Al-Mishkat Center for Research and Training, in Cairo. "We are hoping to contribute to a process of internal reform within the Arab world, and higher education plays prominently in this role."

The study was produced by 40 academics from more than 10 countries. They concluded that Arab governments must focus on "reclaiming Arab knowledge" and building intellectual societies by promoting inquiry and spending heavily on higher education.

To help improve the quality of higher education, the study calls for the establishment of an independent Arab organization for the accreditation of all higher-education programs. Mr. Fergany said the U.N. Development Program had created a pilot accreditation project that it hopes will eventually become a full-fledged accreditation organization. "It has to be independent from government," he stressed.

The authors of the report noted that universities in the region's 22 countries have faced serious setbacks. "Higher education is characterized by decreasing enrollment, and public spending on education has actually declined since 1985," the report said. "In all cases, nevertheless, the most important challenge facing Arab education is its declining quality." Science education in the Arab world is hampered by weak basic research and an almost total lack of advanced research in fields like information technology and molecular biology, the study found.

The report also noted that the number of Arab students in the United States dropped 30 percent from 1999 to 2002, a development the authors said is "interrupting cultural exchanges between the Arab world and the West and cutting off knowledge acquisition for young Arabs."



LOAD-DATE: December 8, 2003