Internationalisation activities in the Levant
JORDAN
Highlights
- Most HEIs teach in English teaching and have the syllabus coherent with international standards. English version of institutional websites available.
- Good cooperation in Hard Sciences and research on the top agenda of internationalization for universities.
- A QA policy and agency exists for HEIs, which contributed to quality of education and improved universities’ international ranking, perceived as a means of promoting international research.
- The country’s stability compared to the other countries in the region.
- Jordanian HEIs are willing to develop joint degrees and more joint doctoral programmes, as well as making agreements for co-supervision of PhD students.
- Great experience of many Jordanian HEIs with the Erasmus+ program.
- HEIs need to work on strengthening the entrepreneurial mindset and the capacity to dialogue with the private sector.
LEBANON
Highlights
- Full autonomy of Higher Education Institutions.
- International Relations Offices and QA offices exist in most universities, staff is well trained and experienced in international cooperation.
- The HE system works in 3 languages (EN, FR, AR) facilitating 2-ways mobilities.
- English and/or French version of institutional websites available.
- Strong interaction with large international organisations.
- Some Lebanese universities are at the top of HEIs international rankings.
- Lebanon may act as a cultural bridge between Europe and the Middle East.
- Many joint degrees and double diplomas are already in place.
- Coexistence of both the European and the American credit systems.
- No legislation to recognize online education is in place.
SYRIA
Highlights
- Both private and public universities join international cooperation initiatives, and both academic and administrative staff participate in mobility programs.
- Most public universities have International Relation Offices.
- HEIs teaching is mostly in Arabic, with few courses in English or French.
- There is no credit system in Syrian HEIs.
- The only university allowed to deliver online education is the Syrian virtual university. Moreover there are not many infrastructures or tools for online learning.
- The war and the instability of the country had a huge impact on academic cooperation, reducing both opportunities and interest.
- Studying abroad is not recognized, and joint degrees are not possible at the undergraduate level. At the Master and PhD it is possible for students to do research abroad as part of the study program.
The opportunities opened by the digital dimension
The silver lining of the recent COVID-19 pandemic was that many HEIs were forced to move faster towards digitalisation and the use of ICT tools in education, to compensate for the restrictions of movement and in-presence life. The digital dimension of education had an impact also on internationalisation activities, which had a great stop (it…
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