Opening Remarks

Blanca Moreno-Dodson, Manager - CMI

Blanca Moreno-Dodson is the Manager of the Center for Mediterranean Integration, the World Bank, Marseille, France.  She is an experienced development economist with more than twenty-four years of World Bank service, including operational work worldwide, with deeper regional expertise in Africa and Latin America.  She is accomplished in macroeconomics and fiscal policy for developing countries, with a focus on growth, inequality and poverty reduction.  She is skilled in public expenditure analysis, fiscal sustainability, public finance, tax policy reforms and transfer pricing.  Previously, she worked as junior economist at the European Union (European Commission and European Parliament).

She has published three World Bank books: “Reducing Poverty on a Global Scale”, 2005, “Public Finance for Poverty Reduction”, 2007, and “Is Fiscal Policy the Answer? A Developing Country Perspective”, 2012, as well as numerous papers on macroeconomics, public expenditures, tax policy and growth, and other development issues, at the National Tax Association Journal, Banca d’Italia Fiscal Policy Annual Volume, Hacienda Pública Española Journal,  Bulletin of Economic Research, and the World Bank Working Papers series.  She has been guest lecturer at the Duke University Tax Executive Program and at John Hopkins University, and a frequent speaker in a variety of international Development Conferences and Workshops.

Blanca obtained her PhD in International Economics and Finance from the Aix-Marseille II (Université de la Méditerranée) in France and her Masters in Economics from the Autónoma University of Madrid, Spain. She is fluent in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese.

Mauve Carbonell, President, Tethys Consortium of Euro-Mediterranean Universities, Aix Marseille University

Mauve Carbonell is a historian specializing in European construction, Jean Monnet Chair, professor-researcher at Aix-Marseille University (AMU) - UMR TELEMMe. Her work focuses on the European Communities in their early days as well as on the industrial and environmental history of Europe and the Mediterranean in the 20th century. She is a member of the steering committee of the Observatory of Euro-Mediterranean Relations (OREM) of the MMSH as well as the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of AMU.

She is in charge of the Master's degree in European and International Studies at the ALLSH faculty, which in 2018 has been equipped with a new multidisciplinary training course "Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation and Studies". She is also the coordinator for AMU of the joint Erasmus Mundus South European Studies (EUROSUD) Master, which welcomes every year students from all over the world. On the occasion of the 2020 General Assembly of the Téthys Consortium of Euro-Mediterranean Universities, Eric Berton, President of Aix-Marseille University, appointed Mauve Carbonell President of the Consortium.

Presenters

Francisco Marmolejo, Education Advisor, Qatar Foundation

Francisco Marmolejo serves since February 2020 as the Education Advisor of Qatar Foundation. Previously (2012-20), he worked at the World Bank as the Global Higher Education Coordinator, based in Washington, DC., and more recently as the Lead Higher Education Specialist for India and South Asia, based in New Delhi. While at the World Bank, he served as Leader of the MENA Higher Education Governance Benchmarking Project. During 1995-2002, he served as founding Executive Director of the Consortium for North AmericanHigher Education Collaboration at the University of Arizona, where he also worked as Assistant Vice President for Engagement in the Americas. Previously, he was American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Vice President of the University of the Americas in Mexico, and International Consultant at OECD in Paris. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of NAFSA and World Education Services, and also as member of the Academic Board of the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation at UNICATT in Italy, and of the Editorial Board of the Internationalisation of Higher Education Journal. Also, he is the current President of the External Advisory Council of the Mexican Association for International Education. He has honorary doctorate degrees from his Alma Mater, the University of San Luis Potosi, and the University of Guadalajara, both in Mexico.

Giulia Marchesini, Senior Partnerships Specialist, CMI

Giulia Marchesini is Senior Partnership Specialist at the CMI, which she joined in 2014. She maintains and explores liaisons between the Center’s founding members and partners, while managing new partnerships and supporting fundraising. In addition, Giulia leads the human capital agenda, including migration and mobility components and higher education; notably, she recently led the authoring and production of the CMI-World Bank report “Internationalization of Tertiary Education in the Middle East and North Africa”. Giulia also led the implementation of the Mediterranean Forum on Energy and Climate Change, in partnership with the European Commission. Before joining the Bank, Giulia worked for the French Development Agency (AFD) in the Partnerships and Mediterranean departments. From 2012 to 2013 she was advisor to the French Ministry for Development where she was notably in charge of dialogue with the MENA region. Her experience in the MENA region also includes coordinating MENA economic and commercial issues for the French Ministry of Economy and Finances (2007-2009). Giulia holds master degrees in Public Administration from Ecole Nationale d'Administration in France, and in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the University of Bologna in Italy.

Kerstin HOLST, Chief of Section, Migration, Displacement, Emergencies and Education, UNESCO

Discussants

Hala Dimechkie, Director, Office of International Programs, American University of Beirut

Hala Dimechkie is the Director of the Office of International Programs (OIP) at AUB. She represents and promotes AUB internationally, and supports and disseminates international education within AUB. She is responsible for managing AUB’s international office, including international student services and study abroad programs; and for developing and maintaining international partnership agreements that relate to student, faculty and staff mobility.

Hala has been a NAFSA member since assuming the OIP Directorship in 2014. Last year she served on the 15thh annual conference committee for the Association of International Education Administrators.  She is fluent in three languages, holds a BA in Arab Studies from the University of Exeter (UK), and an MA in History from AUB.  Prior to joining OIP, Hala spent 8 years at the Faculty of Health Sciences at AUB directing its Communications Unit.

Cesar Wazen, Director, International Affairs Office, Qatar University
 

César Wazen’s interests in rankings, academic accreditation and student assessment are backed by extensive experience teaching mathematics and statistics as well as in whole-school accreditation. He holds a BSc in mathematics, a teaching diploma and a master’s in educational administration and policy studies, all from the American University of Beirut and currently pursuing doctoral studies in European and International Studies.

Maria Amata Garito, President and Rector, International Telematic University UNINETTUNO

Prof. Maria Amata Garito is the President and Rector of the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO. She is also Professor Emeritus of Psychotechnologies at the Faculty of Psychology of the same university. She is also a researcher, whereas her work mainly focused on the following three fields:

• Training Structures and Methodologies;
• Comparative Education;
• New Technologies applied to Teaching and Learning Processes.

She produced over two hundred publications journals related to the aforementioned research topics. She received many prizes and awards at national and international level for the activity carried out at academic level. 

Amine Bensaid, President, Al Akhawayn University 
 

Dr. Amine Bensaid is a university professor and President of Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane since November 2019.  He served as president of Mundiapolis University in Casablanca between 2011 and 2019, and as Chairman of the Board of the Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (the Fulbright Commission in Morocco) between 2017 and 2020.  He holds a B.S. in Information Systems, an M.S. in Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of South Florida (USF).  He’s held research assignments at the Technical University of Delft and Carnegie Mellon University.  He was a faculty member at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (AUI), Morocco, from 1995 to 2009, where he served as department chair, dean of engineering, then VP for Academic Affairs and Research.  He was a UNDP expert on quality assurance (2002-2007).

As a computer scientist, his research and publications have been in the areas of fuzzy pattern recognition, data mining and Arabic Computing.  He served as Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics from 1999 to 2010, and as advisor to the Chairman and CEO of MAScIR – a Moroccan institute devoted to market-driven research and technology.  His current interests focus on the role of higher education for employability and thriving of millennials in the fast-changing 21^st century world.   Amine is a Fulbright Scholar a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Golden Key, Tau Beta Pi honor societies.

Conclusions

Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO

Stefania Giannini was appointed Assistant Director-General for Education in May 2018, becoming the top United Nations official in the field of education. In this position, she provides strategic vision and leadership for UNESCO’s Education Sector in coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the Education 2030 Agenda, encapsulated in Sustainable Development Goal 4.

She has devoted her career to promoting education as a fundamental human right, through the importance of language, lifelong learning, culture, freedom of expression and identity, in an effort to ensure more inclusive and equal societies.

With an academic background in the Humanities (PhD in Linguistics), Ms Giannini became Professor of Linguistics in 1992 and served as Rector of the University for Foreigners of Perugia (2004 – 2012), being one of the first female Rectors and the youngest at that time in Italy.

During these years, Ms Giannini coordinated a number of relevant international projects in the field of higher education and research, contributing to the improvement of university cooperation between Europe and several other countries, from the United States to countries in Asia as well as the Middle East and North Africa region.  

At the same time, she was member of the Selection Committee of the Erasmus Mundus programme in Brussels (2005 – 2009), the person responsible for international relations in the Committee of The Conference of Italian University Rectors (2006 – 2010) and a member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Italian Culture Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006 – 2011).

Later on, in her role as Senator of the Republic of Italy (2013 – 2018) and Minister of Education, Universities and Research (2014 – 2016), she developed and implemented a structural reform of the Italian education system, centred on social inclusion and targeting cultural awareness.

Ms Giannini also chaired the Education and Competitiveness Council of the European Union during the Italian Presidency (July – December 2014), working to promote the importance of creativity, cultural heritage and innovation as tools for dialogue between diverse populations, with a view to preventing radicalization and extremism.

In addition to her current position as UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, Ms Giannini is Advisor to the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation as well as a member of the Atlantis Group of the Varkey Foundation and of RISE (Research, Innovation and Science Policy Experts).

Keiko Miwa, Regional Director, Human Development, Middle East and North Africa, World Bank

Keiko Miwa is World Bank’s Regional Director for Human Development covering the Middle East and North Africa region. Prior to this position, she was the Director for the Education Global Practice of the World Bank. Keiko has worked on various education projects and analytical work in Africa, East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia and South Asia Regions. She served as Manager for Education in South Asia region as well as Country Manager for Lao PDR. Keiko has spent half of her career working in country offices, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Lao PDR. Her professional interest includes education in fragile and conflict-affected states. Keiko holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration Studies from the State University of New York at Albany.