MUSCAT------- February 16, 2015------ The 6th Annual Conference of the Arab Organization for Quality Assurance in Education (AROQA) was concluded in Muscat with several key recommendations.

The Conference titled "Patterns of Education and Related Quality Standards" was chaired by HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, AROQA chairman with the participation of representatives of Arab and foreign countries.

Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh declared:

·         The launch of Arab Digital Universities Union under the patronage of the League of Arab States and headquartered at Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University in the UAE

·         The accreditation of educational quality standards and systems which are being currently applied in a number of schools

·         The issuance of the Arab Journal for quality insurance in education which is a periodic, indexed and peer-reviewed journal.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh indicated that AROQA has prioritized the development of the pan-Arab quality systems and accreditation for higher education, quality and accreditation standards for digital universities, coordination with national quality assurance and accreditation commissions in the Arab states, and enhancement of cooperation with international organizations specialized in quality and accreditation.

He also announced that the Conference has made a number of recommendations emphasizing the following:

-       Developing quality and accreditation standards for digital education and training

-       Continuing dialogue and cooperation between education institutions and accreditation bodies and quality organizations in education to consolidate the concepts of quality and accreditation at the Arab-region level

-       The need to spread the culture of quality and certification systems and improving the quality of education in the Arab educational institutions

-       The continuous dialogue to spread the best practices related to quality in education

-       Supporting the initiatives aiming at improving the quality of education and carrying out further studies and research related to quality and accreditation

-       Promoting sustainable cooperation among educational institutions and bodies specialized in quality and accreditation and launching educational initiatives to promote joint research addressing quality and accreditation

-       Enhancing the role of the Secretariat of the League of Arab States, the Arab Organization for Education, Science and Culture, and the Arab Organization for Quality Assurance in Education and coordination among these institutions to support the establishment of a comprehensive system for quality of education and accreditation at the level of the Arab region

-       Identifying the common priorities of quality and accreditation in the Arab educational institutions

-       Developing action plans to establish the pan-Arab educational entity in order to promote the mutual academic recognition