Empowering Higher Education Institutions through Information Sharing and Improved Governance

The World Bank/Center for Mediterranean Integration MENA Regional Program on Higher Education organized from 12th to 14th May, the 4th International Conference “Empowering Higher Education Institutions (HEI) through Information Sharing and Improved Governance”, focusing on development of information, sharing mechanisms and systems to inform policy makers on improving governance and quality assurance in higher education in the MENA region.

The conference was designed to provide an opportunity for participating universities and other tertiary education institutions from the MENA region and beyond to learn from each other’s experiences and to discuss along with government officials, quality assurance agencies and other local, regional and international organizations a broad range of issues related to improving governance in tertiary education through information sharing and addressing issues of quality assurance and the employability of graduates. This conference comes as a fourth in a series of regional conferences organized by the WB/CMI Regional Higher Education Program in partnership with ISESCO and British Council.

The 2011 workshop in Cairo introduced the University Governance Screening Card (UGSC) Benchmarking Tool and set the ground for the first round of the UGSC implementation in four MENA countries. The 2012 conference in Rabat – organized in collaboration with ISESCO and the British Council – explored the lessons learned from using the UGSC and highlighted case studies of institutional reforms; however, it also launched the Regional Higher Education Network comprised of the 100 participating universities from seven MENA countries (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, West Bank & Gaza, Tunisia). The 2014 conference in Tunis focused on the nexus between quality assurance and governance, in an attempt to enable universities and higher education sectors more broadly move ‘from vision to action’. It also provided an opportunity for members of the regional university network to engage in the discussion of the action plans they had developed building upon the results of the UGSC.

The importance of timely and effective information sharing among HEI has been tackled as a means of developing/ revisiting shared visions of quality learning in the twenty-first century, while also paying attention to informed decision making in the context of participatory governance systems. Experts from different HEI of the region, as well as international HE specialists have also contributed to identifying relevant issues in, and main bottlenecks to, enhancing HEI quality through governance and information sharing in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. Among other, the needs to gather relevant information and to process it effectively have been emphasized as against collecting piles of irrelevant data that do not support policy formulation and implementation. The many facets of participatory and inclusive governance have been also addressed with a view of putting good governance in the service of quality learning.

Objectives of the Conference:

The conference builds upon the program’s previous initiatives with the objective to:

– First, bring together universities, governments, quality assurance bodies, experts and other key players from the MENA region and beyond with the goal of joint (and peer) learning on the development of information sharing mechanisms and systems to inform policy makers on improving governance and quality assurance in higher education
– Second, serve as a capacity building exercise for institutional leaders and practitioners in areas such as, but not limited to, institutional planning, performance assessment, development of indicators, financial management, etc.
– Third, support the dialogue between and among governments and institutions particularly on developing national indicators systems and addressing the pressing issue of the employability of graduates of higher education institutions
– Finally, attract the participation from institutional representatives from MENA countries not yet participating in the project, and from other regions, especially Africa and Latin America.

 Achievements:

The importance of timely and effective information sharing among HEI has been tackled as a means of developing/ revisiting shared visions of quality learning in the twenty-first century, while also paying attention to informed decision making in the context of participatory governance systems. Experts from different HEI of the region, as well as international HE specialists have also contributed to identifying relevant issues in, and main bottlenecks to, enhancing HEI quality through governance and information sharing in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.

Among other, the needs to gather relevant information and to process it effectively have been emphasized as against collecting piles of irrelevant data that do not support policy formulation and implementation. The many facets of participatory and inclusive governance have been also addressed with a view of putting good governance in the service of quality learning.