Conference on Higher Education in the GCC States Supported by the MBI Al Jaber Foundation
In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the demand for higher education is expanding faster than anywhere else in the world.
Accompanying this expansion of tertiary education has been a growing awareness, by GCC decision makers, of the challenges confronting higher education, and alternative approaches to dealing with them. One such challenge has been to link higher education more effectively to job markets and economies in general. In addition to this, it is recognised that higher education also plays a key role in shaping the beliefs, attitudes and behaviour of young adults, and therefore plays a fundamental role in the development of society and culture, politics and policies.
Given the importance of higher education across the GCC, all member countries have been busy identifying the issues which need to be considered and developing plans which will address them. Each GCC country has come up with its own, distinctive approach.
This conference allows subject matter experts and policy makers to share ideas about how the region as a whole can respond to the challenges of shaping higher education to meet economic, social and political objectives. The conference will begin with an overview of the current state of tertiary education in the Gulf. It will help to identify the common objectives of higher education and it will highlight the policies and courses of action which will achieve them. The conference will conclude by examining how different GCC states have developed policies for their tertiary educational sectors.
Highlights of the conference will include welcoming remarks from Professor Paul Webley, Director of SOAS, and an address by the GCC Secretary General, H. E. Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah.
For further information, please contact:
Director of Public Relations [email protected]
