Highlights

Lead Organization(s)

The World Bank and the Center for Mediterranean Integration. 

Partner(s)

Ministry of Education and Higher Education in each of Lebanon, Iraq, West bank and Gaza, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.

Context

The first version of the University Governance Screening Card (UGSCV1.0) was first launched in 2010. It was administered at 113 institutions of tertiary education in 7 countries in the MENA region. The tool was used to benchmark the governance practices at institutions of tertiary education in the region. The tool also provided a comparison between perceived and actual governance within every participating institution.

The implementation of the tool itself had valuable spinoffs that lead to the creation of the Tertiary Education Network of practitioners, policymakers and experts within the MENA region and beyond, and the participation of institutions in action driven initiatives such as sharing best experiences at the MENA region annual conference on tertiary education and the preparation of institutional action plans that provide opportunities for institutional growth and development. In November 2015, the program launched the new and revised version of the UGSC which will be administered in the MENA region with the added value of providing the opportunity for observations of institutional growth and national development within university governance.

Objectives

The new version of the UGSC was launched at the video conference held for members of the Tertiary Education Network with the following objectives: (1) Presenting the program’s forthcoming activities and goals (2) Introducing the UGSC V2.0 [both the revised survey questionnaire and the online version] (3) Preparing the local tertiary education institutions for participation in the new round of the UGSC through briefly familiarizing them with the tool and how to use it (3) Strengthening the Tertiary Education Network through encouraging collaboration and sharing of information

Outcomes

It is expected that the video conference will result in the continued interest of a pool of tertiary education institutions that will use the UGSC and the support of the ministries of education and tertiary education, which in turn would lead to a new set of data on the governance of tertiary education institutions in the 7 countries within the MENA region. This event will also provide the opportunity to receive the feedback and reactions of the members of the Tertiary Education Network on the revised tool and the overall program, particularly in preparation for the national workshops and the upcoming MENA Tertiary Education Annual Conference 2016. 

Participants

Representatives of ministries of education and tertiary education, institutions of tertiary education from the 7 MENA region countries (Lebanon, Iraq, West bank and Gaza, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco), and the UGSC team members participated in this video conference.

Resources

• Building a University Governance Screening Card for MENA (and beyond) - (EN)

Video