Towards an Inner-Arab Mobility Programme for Exchange of Students and Staff Abdallah Al-Zoubi Advisor, Association of Arab Universities VP, Princess Sumaya University for Technology

2. Towards an Inner-Arab Mobility Programme for
Exchange of Students and Staff
Abdallah Al-Zoubi
Advisor, Association of Arab Universities
VP, Princess Sumaya University for Technology

3. • Dramatic changes and progress in the Arab World will only occur if
there is a political vision and will from the highest levels of the
state.
• The political upheaval in the Arab World is telling of the need for a
speedy change.
• Arabs are in need of a renaissance that is built on modern
education and science base with its triad of basic research,
technology transfer, and societal involvement.

4. • Globally, mobility may contribute to preparing students for the
global workforce with a labour pool that has reached
approximately 3 billion workers in 2012 with predicted 205 million
unemployed in 2014.
• Mobility may also enhance university-industry collaboration
regarded as essential for all graduates, regardless of whether they
stay at home or live abroad.
• Currently there are 4.5 million international students representing
7 % of all tertiary enrolments globally.

5. • 308,000 Arab students studied abroad in 2012, representing over
3.6% of the total student body in Arab higher education.
• USA, UK, France, Australia and Germany were the top 5 host
countries for international students in 2012.
• The number of students from Saudi Arabia in the USA alone has
reached 111,000 in 2014.

6. Country Universities Colleges and
HE Institutions
No. of
Students
No. of
Faculty Members
Public Private Total
Algeria 48 2 50 56 1500000 20500
Bahrain 3 13 16 - 34388 1670
Egypt 24 19 43 82 2550000 92000
Iraq 40 2 42 49 596319 32000
Jordan 11 17 28 3 340000 9558
Kuwait 1 8 9 9 55389 2200
Lebanon 1 32 33 17 225000 20082
Libya 14 6 20 - 400000 12784
Mauritania 1 7 8 5 18500 650
Morocco 15 4 19 - 623375 12700
Oman 1 7 8 16 120000 4890
Palestine 3 11 14 36 275587 7500
Qatar 1 7 8 - 29226 1200
Saudi Arabia 26 10 36 32 1357702 64689
Sudan 32 11 43 105 726894 14830
Syria 6 20 26 4 650000 12500
Tunisia 13 18 31 168 439619 24878
UAE 4 29 33 49 104838 3180
Yemen 10 30 40 7 334752 11800
Total 254 253 507 683 10,381,589 349,611
Arab Higher Education in Numbers, 2014.

7. Country Total No. of
Students Abroad
Favourite Destination
Country No. of Students
Algeria 24,751 France 21,804
Bahrain 4,096 UK 1,112
Egypt 16,217 UAE 2,948
Iraq 14,465 Jordan 2,959
Jordan 16,825 UAE 4,313
Kuwait 10,686 USA 3,605
Lebanon 13,089 France 4,567
Libya 6,431 UK 1,755
Mauritania 3,939 France 1,362
Morocco 44,161 France 28,778
Oman 10,049 UAE 5,186
Palestine 17,637 Jordan 7,337
Qatar 3,410 UK 1,252
Saudi Arabia 62,535 USA 33,066
Sudan - - -
Syria 18,222 UAE 3,525
Tunisia 18,911 France 11,134
UAE 8,526 UK 3,089
Yemen 14,943 Saudi Arabia 5,539
Total 308,893 - 143,331
Arab Students Abroad, 2012.

8. Country
Receiving
Algeria
Bahrain
Egypt
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Mauritania
Morocco
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
KSA
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
UAE
Yemen
Total
Sending
Algeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0
Bahrain 10 184 86 211 504 21 0 0 5 18 19 15 494 - 86 0 12 53 1718
Egypt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0
Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0
Jordan 35 673 455 2959 1722 170 76 9 28 1079 7337 219 3295 - 1990 44 58 843 20992
Kuwait 10 87 238 157 123 0 <5 <5 <5 112 27 <5 753 - 140 <5 6 35 1688
Lebanon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0
Libya 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0
Mauritania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0
Morocco 80 10 22 60 57 13 24 169 1326 181 139 0 90 - 48 166 92 197 2674
Oman 29 70 838 171 112 132 0 0 0 13 0 33 70 32 13 179 30 1722
Palestine 0 <5 <5 <5 <5 <5 <5 0 <5 0 <5 <5 <5 - <5 <5 <5 <5 <70
Qatar 103 217 0 169 638 27 167 32 57 0 223 747 209 - 295 103 43 533 3563
KSA 249 269 2403 171 1991 387 685 28 457 229 192 2104 125 - 2669 121 92 5539 17711
Sudan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Syria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0
Tunisia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0
UAE 299 467 2948 2197 4313 963 1252 120 32 256 5186 3816 0 1289 - 3525 114 2148 28925
Yemen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0
Total 815 1793 7088 5970 7445 3748 2319 425 1881 531 6991 14189 392 6200 - 8785 561 482 9378 78993
Inner-Arab Students Mobility, 2012.

9. Number of European Erasmus Mundus Action
2 Scholarship to Arab Universities.
Arab Erasmus Mundus Action 2 Scholarship
Distribution to Europe in the Period 2007-2013.

10. The following is a list of projects among the latest mobility programmes developed in
the Euro-Arab framework in the period 2010-2014:
1. AVEMPACE I-III: coordinated by TU-Berlin, ME
2. Dunia Beam: coordinated by the University of Pavia, ME.
3. EPIC: coordinated by Cardiff Metropolitan University, ME.
4. PEACE: coordinated by the University of Santiago de Compostela, ME.
5. HERMES: coordinated Aix-Marseille University, ME.
6. PHOENIX: coordinated by University of Almeria, ME.
7. WELCOME: coordinated by Politecnico di Torino, Egypt and Lebanon.
8. FATIMA AL-FIHRI: coordinated by University of Deusto, NA.
9. AL IDRISI II: coordinated by Universidad de Granada, NA.
10.BATTUTA: coordinated by Université de Rouen, NA.

11. 1. The establishment of a new pan-Arab programme for exchange of
students and staff amongst Arab universities and institutions of
higher education is envisaged.
2. It may follow the European Erasmus Mundus programme which
has facilitated short-term mobility for over three million students and
staff in the past 25 years.
3. The proposed scheme aims at supporting inner-Arab university
cooperation.

13. The type of mobility may follow the distribution shown in table:
Type of Mobility Distribution
Undergraduates 30%
Masters 25%
Doctorates 15%
Academic Staff and Researchers 20%
Administrative Staff 10%

14. The main features of the proposed programme may be summarized as
follows:
• The programme should follow the structure of the Erasmus Mundus
Action 2 programme and a similar workprogramme should be adopted in
determining the number of and organizing mobilities.
• The programme should begin with an initial stage that should last for 3
years.

15. • Mobility for staff and students from Middle East and North Africa and
GCC countries and vice versa.
• A European component should also be included.
• Mobility is organized within a consortium of a maximum of 10 Arab and
EU universities. Preference will be given to Arab universities which are
members of AArU.

16. • Financial issues concerning the cost and management of mobilities should
come from various sources.
• The selection process should follow standards and procedures similar to
those of EACEA.
• Special attention will be given to disadvantaged groups and populations in
vulnerable situations and needy and outstanding Arab students.
• Refugee and Migrant Students should not be overlooked.

17. Thank You