AEUA IntroOrganisationProjectsPresidents' MeetingMembersLinksPublicationsQueries/Contact 

Final Report First Presidents Meeting Cairo 2002

Final Report First Presidents Meeting Cairo 2002

Cairo

October 26-28, 2002

A Summary Report

In Egypt the Arab-European University Association (AEUA), organized the first convention of its members, hosted by the University of Cairo. The meeting was open to all interested academic institutions, which are members of its parent organisations, the Arab Association of Universities (AARU) and the European University Association (EUA). The meeting was made possible thanks to the commitment of the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation in The Hague, an institution dedicated to intellectual cooperation and university training bringing together European and Arab countries. The following paragraphs are an account of the various stages of an encounter which brought together academic leaders often meeting for the first time, but willing to engage in a long term dialogue that could help - through trust building programmes focusing on their institutional needs - to dispel the cultural prejudices and political bias that prompt misunderstanding between European and Arab scientists, teachers and students.

Friday, October 25 2002

Coming from more than sixty institutions, some 70 participants, university Presidents or their representatives, flew in on Friday, October 25, 2002. The number of participants was a very pleasant surprise for the organisers as the total AEUA membership amounted to some 45 universities only as of September 2002. Such an attendance, covering 17 European countries from Spain to the Caucasus, from Holland to Turkey with strong delegations from France, Italy and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as 11 Arab nations, from Syria to Yemen, from Oman to Sudan - with substantial delegations from Jordan and Lebanon - proved that there exists an acute interest amongst European and Arab universities to start an effective dialogue and to initiate collaboration between academic institutions of the two regions.

Thanks to the efficiency and kindness of the hosting university, most participants were met at Cairo international airport and brought to the Safir Hotel not far from the campus of the University of Cairo.

Saturday, October 26 2002

Staff from the university assisted participants in their transfer to the university campus for registration and the sessions of the day. As administrative needs were met quickly, conference members were left ample time not only to share coffee, impressions and visiting cards but also to meet prof. Najeeb Al-Hilali Jawhar, the President of the University of Cairo: a first attempt at networking with each other!

Chaired by Dr. Marwan Kamal, Chairman of AEUA and also Secretary General of AARU, the opening session reminded participants of the purpose of the meeting, from the viewpoint of the two co-sponsoring organisations, i.e., the stimulation of multilateral interuniversity collaboration through the exchange of people and the participation in commonly defined projects. Thus, on behalf of the Board of EUA, Prof. Andrei Marga, who is also rector of Babes-Bolay University in Cluj, Romania, pointed to the movements of convergence in academic affairs now being provoked by globalisation. They evoke also, based on trust and transparency (that is on comparisons of quality), shared academic practice among universities at regional level - for instance in the so-called Bologna process in Europe. Cooperation between regions, however, represents yet another stage of potential dialogue, hence the importance and relevance of a Euro-Arab platform for cooperation, like AEUA. Dr Amre Musa, Secretary General of the Arab League sent his regrets as unforeseen developments required his presence in Libya. In his welcome message, the Rector of the University of Cairo indicated that he would do everything in his power to make the delegates feel welcome and to ensure the success of the conference. To close the formal opening, Mr. Salim Rabbani recalled his late father's vision for AEUA and his commitment to the Association's success - in particular through the initiation and support of several conferences that finally led to the incorporation of AEUA in Dutch law in 2000.

In the first session, Dr. Saeed Salman, President of the University of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates and former Ambassador of the UAE to UNESCO, spoke on "Opportunities for Cooperation between Arab and European Universities" and focused his presentation on the shaping of institutional identity in universities, a presentation made in Arabic but with a bilingual PowerPoint presentation that allowed all participants to concur with the speaker's main thesis, i.e., that constructing a university can only be a gradual process in which the academic infrastructure, the administrative framework, educational standards and quality assurance are converging elements in a vision of the role - intellectual, social and economic - of the university as a key institution of culture and science. How to reinforce such a development function should be the purpose of international cooperation but that collaboration would need trust and the respect of individual situations in order to succeed. This tension between institutional growth and international linkages was at the core of the ensuing discussion.

Lunch was served on campus and permitted the presidents to get further acquainted.

At 2 p.m. the conference reconvened, Dr. Andris Barblan from EUA chairing an afternoon session dedicated to the university needs for policies of quality management, a domain in which Prof. Klaus-Dieter Wolff has considerable experience, considering that he founded the University of Bayreuth more than 20 years ago. This experience was now being used in his current presidency of ACQUIN, the Accreditation, Certification and Quality Assurance Programme that is now active in several European countries.

His elaborate presentation on "Quality Assurance and Accreditation" was made available to the delegates at the end of the afternoon. A lively discussion ensued, many questions being raised by participants, be they representing Arab or European universities. How should a self-study process be organised? What is the possible impact of an evaluation programme on the institution's internal arrangements? What are the results of introspection on external accountability? What are the merits of programme-evaluation versus institutional assessment? Can common procedures be developed that would be valid in both European and Arab universities? Several participants felt that those universities newly embarking on quality assurance should first focus on pilot projects focusing on programme evaluation in order to familiarise with a quality culture requiring trust and transparency before launching a full assessment of the institution's capacity for change. However, arguments were also offered for an early institutional assessment that would delineate the mid-term development strategies of the university and thus represent a framework for the evaluation of specific programmes of activities.

By 5 p.m., conference participants were brought back to the hotel before they joined an evening boat trip on the Nile for a sumptuous dinner offered by the host rector.

Sunday, October 27 2002

The conference reconvened at 10 a.m. The first speaker of the day was Dr. Jan Donner, Executive Director of AEUA and president of the Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands. He first outlined the history of AEUA:

  • Over the last decade, the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation has been attempting to create a platform for mutual communication between universities in Europe and Arab countries. Inspiration came from the Columbus programme launched in 1987 to enhance common awareness through activities shared by European and Latin American universities;
  • Adapting this model to different circumstances, a concept was developed and presented to a small group of Arab and European universities at a conference called by the University of Ajman at Al Ain (UAE) in 1998;
  • Although the first proposals received mixed appraisal, the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation managed to interest several sponsors in supporting a conference that would focus on the creation of what, in 2000, became the Arab European Universities Association (AEUA). This conference took place at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 1998;
  • Ever since, AEUA has been in negotiations with potential donors: the Dutch government and the European Union in particular: both encouraged AEUA to proceed but did not offer tangible support until now.
  • This lack of official commitment, however, could be turned around if Arab and European universities would demonstrate that their will to cooperate can engineer results, for instance by launching small pilot projects at their own expenses before turning to public donors for specific grants supporting different types of projects - already tested in small;
  • With such a process in mind, AEUA designed projects in some eight areas, projects which could be initiated by interested universities at any time: the list of these projects has been distributed to participants as part of the background material for the meeting;
  • Hence the importance of this first Presidents' meeting, with member and non-member universities: the presence of some seventy academic leaders assembled in Cairo is a proof of a real commitment to growing links and cooperative ventures between institutions from both Europe and the Arab world - one could have only hoped for a stronger presence from Maghreb universities at this Cairo conference to ensure fuller representation of the potential long term partnerships between the two regions.

In the second part of his presentation Dr. Donner described the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) as an effective tool for staff and student exchange between universities. Within Europe, this instrument boosted student exchange considerably. ECTS - or ECTS inspired systems of transfer - are now in use in other parts of the world as well, and they effectively enhance collaboration between universities. In this context, he referred to the EU-website. Furthermore, he pointed to other tools to engineer effective co-operation between different universities such as joint curriculum development or the exchange of doctoral students. Sheets of his presentation had been made available beforehand to prepare the discussion and several universities expressed an interest to participate - even at their own cost - in projects on quality assurance and capacity building. The Vrije Universiteit has proposed such projects in the AEUA context already while others have been successfully brought to completion between European and Latin American universities. Considering the strong interest expressed in Cairo for joined activities in these two fields, and taking stock of earlier experiments, proposals would be made to the participating universities before the end of 2002.

In a panel discussion the conference subsequently focused on the question: "How can we bridge European and Arab Cultures through Educational Collaboration". The panel consisted of the rectors and presidents of the universities of Paris 6, Prof.Dr. Pierre Bereziat; of Iasi, Romania, Prof. Dr. Stefan Avadanei; of the Nile Valley University in Khartum, Sudan, Prof. Dr. Faisal Abdallah El Hag; and of Philadelphia University, Jordan, Prof. Hunaiti. The debate was monitored by Dr. Andris Barblan (EUA). Panel members made a long list of suggestions, some of which are indicated below:

  • Networking, multilateral but also bilateral if needed to start with, should offer a flexible approach around projects shared by Arab and European universities;
  • Eastern European universities could take a leading role in developing cultural exchange between Arab and European countries;
  • Iasi University, Romania, offered to start an exchange system of professors that would bring together universities interested in specific projects;
  • AEUA could support bilateral projects as a first step to wider international co-operation, for instance: the development of international summer courses;
  • The suggestion of joint research and joint doctoral degrees was largely supported;
  • Paris 8 underlined that studies in the humanities are indispensable for any collaboration to be successful in terms of cultural understanding. The university had discussed the potential of "Tempus-type" programmes for Mediterranean countries but evoked no real interest from authorities in Europe: the matter could be picked up again with the larger support of an international grouping of universities like AEUA;
  • Together with other universities, Paris 8 also mentioned that obtaining visas was an increasingly difficult problem that needed to be overcome;
  • Prof. Wolff insisted on the need for promoting research collaboration. Universities should look for interested partners from among other universities in the network, and also engage together in the market for development and applied research;
  • Prof. Bereziat concurred with many of these observations but raised the question "what is a joint PhD?". Despite having a well-structured PhD programme, Paris 6 found collaboration on degree education to be rather difficult. He also felt that public-private collaboration can be beneficial for universities but such linkages would need to be well-balanced, all the more so as joint research has become a necessity;
  • Consensus existed in the audience that student-exchange between universities symbolises successful collaboration. Several universities suggested to develop and share a pool of "student positions" that could be swapped between participating institutions.

It was agreed that, even without outside funding, AEUA should take the initiative and come up with proposals for projects that could stimulate staff and student exchange shortly.

The following lunch offered an ideal setting to explore further several of these ideas through very lively discussions.

The afternoon session focused on AEUA itself and was chaired by Dr. Marwan Kamal, Chairman of AEUA. He announced the appointment of four new officers to the AEUA Board, two on behalf of each of the two founding organisations (EUA and AARU):

  • Prof. Dr. Pierre de Maret, rector of the Université Libre in Brussels, Belgium;
  • Prof. Dr. Francisco Mora Mas, vice-rector of the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain;
  • Prof. Najeeb Al-Hilali Jawhar, president of the University of Cairo;
  • Prof. Adnan Badran, president of the Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan.

In addition the Board is represented by:

  • Dr. Marwan Kamal, Secretary General, Association of Arab Universities (AARU);
  • Dr. Andris Barblan, Special Advisor, Association of European Universities (EUA)
  • Dr. Jan Donner, Board Member, Lutfia Rabbani Foundation

The present Board was also happy to announce that several universities in attendance at this conference had decided to join AEUA. Membership would thus increase to well over 50 universities and show a rather balanced representation between Arab (still the majority of members) and European universities. Furthermore, the Board made clear that no membership dues would be charged for 2002, considering the delays encountered in the setting up of the organisation. Indeed, those universities that joined AEUA between early 2001 and now had only been invoiced for one year. All member universities should expect to receive early next year an invoice for membership dues in 2003.

At the same time members can expect to receive a brief summary of the conference proceedings before the end of the year. Added to that will be one or two project proposals that individual universities can decide to underwrite: with sufficient interest and commitment from member universities, AEUA will then embark to initiate these projects. Indeed, the AEUA Board felt much encouraged by the response from members to attend this conference and was grateful for the many suggestions received to improve action over the near future. Very obviously, AEUA will continue its endeavours to receive financial support from donors to facilitate further projects.

Dr. Marwan Kamal then concluded the conference by thanking the hosts - the University of Cairo and Dr. Kadi in particular, the Dean of Graduate studies, - for their efforts to make this conference a success. He thanked the participants for the valuable proposals and suggestions that would further the cause of AEUA. He expressed satisfaction that this conference had effectively demonstrated the viability of Euro-Arab academic collaboration and thus confirmed the need for an effective platform to structure such collaboration.

In the evening, the University of Cairo offered the participants an outdoor dinner, an opportunity to explore further ideas for cooperation. On Monday, October 28 2002, the participants still in Egypt were taken on a tour of the national museum as well as on a visit to the citadel and to Gizeh, the social programme ending with the "son et lumière" presentation of the pyramids.

AB, JD, MK/06.12.02