HE Dardari commended ARQAANE’s efforts in upgrading the level of higher education in the Arab region

This venue will create good opportunities to recognize the global modern approaches in education – Abu-Ghazaleh


DAMASCUS --- January 29, 2009 --- The Arab Quality Assurance and Accreditation Network (ARQAANE) organized, under the patronage of the Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs HE Mr. Abdullah Dardari, the “Excellence in Business Education” Conference January 28-29, 2009 at Rida Said Conference Hall, University of Damascus.

The Conference, held in cooperation with Damascus University and the Arab Society of Faculties of Business Administration, was attended by Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, ARQAANE president and vice-chair of the UN Global Compact along with high ranking officials and academics in Syria.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Dardari stressed on the importance of excellence in education mainly in this stage, which requires highly qualified human resources to run public and private institutions internally and externally in a competitive economic era.

“I believe that quality and assurance in education is a vital issue to upgrade the level of education in Syria, therefore, there will be fierce competition in attracting high-caliber potentials to teach in Syrian universities,” he said.

Mr. Dardari commended ARQAANE’s efforts in upgrading the level of higher education in the Arab region, which also supports the Syrian approach to achieve assurance in education and exchange expertise with other Arab universities.

Meanwhile, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh stated during the opening of the two-day Conference that this event crystallizes ARQAANE’s commitment in enhancing the quality of business education.

“This venue will create good opportunities to recognize the global modern approaches in education and in qualifying business leaders through the exchange of expertise of the distinguished business administration faculties on the Arab and international levels,” he highlighted.
 

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh called upon all higher education institutions which devote their efforts to develop the skills of leaders in the business sector to effectively participate in a global business education program and for more coordination among all the concerned parties.

From his part, President of Damascus University Dr. Wael Mualla underlined the significance of the themes addressed by the participants and their positive impact on the development of education in general and business education in particular.

“The tenth five-year plan for the economic and social development in Syria urged the higher education sector in the country to implement new enrollment policies to open the door for additional number of students at the business administration colleges and faculties,” Dr. Mualla stated.

He pointed out that the plan requires a nine percentage increase to provide the needed human potentials to upgrade the comprehensive educational development plan.

Dr. Mualla noted that the Damascus University currently seeks to establish global partnerships with reputable universities to come up with continuous educational and training programs in the field of business administration.

The Conference discussed issues related to the quality in business education; identifying a clear path to assessing quality in business administration education; fostering internal quality in management education.

In addition, quality of business education in faculties of business in the Arab world and the managerial relevance in business education and research were among the topics tackled in the event.

At the conclusion, the participants approved the recommendations and mechanisms introduced by Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh. These are:

- Calling for an annual meeting to guarantee a constant professional exchange of expertise among Arab business administration faculties with their international counterparts.

- Establishing a partnership between educational institutions, business sector, specialized educational bodies to unify efforts to upgrade the level of business education and administration skills.

- Establishing a quality system for business education on a regional level supervised by ARQAANE in cooperation with other business administration entities and accreditation committees in the Arab countries.

- Utilizing ARQAANE’s potentials to serve the official accreditation centers in the Arab countries by participating in quality assurance procedures and policies.

- Promoting the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) supported by the UN which aim at promoting social responsibility and sustainability in business education programs.

The Arab Quality Assurance and Accreditation Network (ARQAANE) is an international non-profit independent association established in Belgium in July 2007 with the fundamental objective of raising the quality of education in the Arab world.