Impact of Globalization on Engineering Education- Case of Lebanon within the Arab World -

Ahmad JAMMALDirector General of Higher Education in Lebanon

ajammal@ieee.orgajammal@higher-edu.gov.lb

Web site: www.higher-edu.gov.lb

24 October 2013

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(WB Report about MENA Development: The Road Not Travelled: Education Reform in the Middle East and Africa, The World Bank, 2008)

The educational system in the Arab World :

•Has fewer educational outcomes; •has not produced what the markets needed; •focuses on repetition of definitions and knowledge of facts and concepts and less on developing critical-thinking and problem solving capacities; •suffers from high dropout rates; •and is not fully equipped to produce graduates with the skills and expertise necessary to compete in a world where knowledge is essential for making progress

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Urgency for Education Reform

Investment in education leads to economic growth, and to improve the quality of life.

To achieve its intended goal, the educational experience and processes must: -be congruent with the context,-address societal concerns, -support community aspirations and needs, -develop talents to transform surely occurring challenges to possibilities.

It is important to establish an authentic framework by which:•accountability of the institutions of higher Education is assured, •their alignment with authentically established goals is evidenced, •their impact on the nation is measured.

This was our basic concept to a strategy for Higher Education in Lebanon globally, and for engineering education specifically.

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The Engineering Education is considered as the fundamental cornerstone of the evolution of technology and applied science.

The expectations for engineering education have expanded to become increasingly collaborative, multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial, and global.

To the foundations of mathematics, science, engineering fundamentals, disciplinary depth, and professional and ethical standards have been added:interdisciplinary breadth; communication; teamwork; global economy, environmental, and societal contexts; critical thinking; ingenuity; creativity; leadership; flexibility (ABET, 2011; NAE, 2004; McMasters and Komerath, 2005)

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Arab Recommendations about Quality Assurance (1):

The increasing number of universities in the Arab World that teach Engineering and the increasing of similar engineering programs led to significant increase of graduates who are non-randomly harmonious with the needs of the labor market.

Then, based on this reality, the engineering education in the Arab world needs to be re-evaluated.

As a result, the people responsible of Engineering Education in Arab world considered quality assurance and accreditation of engineering programs as priority.

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Arab Recommendations about Quality Assurance (2):

From 1999 to 2001, the recommendations of the Conferences of the Ministries responsible of Higher education in the Arab World focused on Quality Assurance.

…… they call the Arab countries to:

- establish Arab standards for quality and academic excellence, and benefit from the self-evaluation guides issued by the joint Arab action organizations and international organizations in order to achieve the overall quality.

- establish national bodies and councils for quality assurance in public and private higher education institutions and scientific research institutions.

- to complete the establishment of an Arab system to evaluate the performance and quality assurance in higher education institutions, scientific research and determine the requirements of its implementation in collaboration with ALECSO and other Arab unions.

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Arab Recommendations about Quality Assurance (3)OutcomesNow there are 13 Arab National agencies and boards for quality assurance & accreditation.

ANQAHE has been established in June 2007 as a nonprofit nongovernmental organization. The purpose to establish ANQAHE is to create a mechanism between the Arab countries to:

•Exchange information about quality assurance•Construct new quality assurance agencies or organizations•Develop standards to establish new quality assurance agencies or support the already present one•Disseminate good practice in quality assurance•Strengthen liaison between quality assurance bodies in the different countries

Quality Assurance in Engineering Programs Existing Criteria

• Quality Assurance of Engineering Programs has a long history worldwide,

• Different agencies exist:

– ABET (USA) since 1932

– CTI (France) since 1939

– FEANI (Belgium)

– ANECA (Spain)

– HETAC (Ireland)

– QAA (UK)

– CEAB (Canada)

– Engineers Australia (Australia)

– EURACE (Europe)

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For each of these agencies, there is General & specific criteria to assess the quality of programs.

In addition to that there are many Networks that associate multiple agencies like:•ENAEE -The European Network for the Accreditation of Engineering Education,•INQAAHE - International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies (www.inqaahe.org/), •ANQAHE - Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education ,•AQAN - Asean Quality Assurance Network (www.mqa.gov.my/aqan/),•AfriQAN - The African Quality Assurance Network (afriqan.aau.org/), etc.

There are many common criteria for the QA in Engineering Program between these agencies:

• Qualitative criteria-based QA• Dynamic criteria• Level dependent criteria• Associating surrounding socio-professional environment• Governance structure• International and mobility• Common domains of evaluation and references (Curriculum,

Faculty, Students, Facilities, internal QA, etc.)• Some specific aspects

– Domain specific criteria, as in the case of ABET, are set in cooperation with powerful professional associations

– CTI stresses on the relation with surrounding socio-economical fabrics

– International standards like ESG need to be considered too10

Factors impacting the Arab Engineering Programs

• QA criteria should not form a checklist– Diversity in the Arab region– Evaluator to make a contextual use of the criteria

• Increasing demand for higher education– Population growth and increasing demand for HE– Relatively higher demand for engineers– Increasing teaching load with respect to research and

service activities– Criteria to verify that the contents are not far from

state of the art– Foster research activities– Enough domain-specific knowledge

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Factors impacting the Arab Engineering programs (1)

• High un-employability rate– Prepare engineers as general problem solvers for the

limited local market and as specialized highly skilled graduates for the highly competitive international market

• Comply with international standards– For recognition purposes

• Limited and low R&D in surrounding fabric– Foster research activities

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Factors impacting the Arab Engineering programs (2)

• Limited scientific activities in the Arab professional societies

• Limited specialized resources for peer reviewing– Adopt the unit level– Rely on international experts

• QA Leading to a decision?– How to consider the various operating environments?

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Factors impacting the Lebanese Engineering programs

• In addition to the regional factors:

– Autonomous system– Competitive environment– Prestigious programs next to very recent ones

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National Strategic Plan for Quality Assurance

•Keep a regional reputation in higher education•Maintain the quality of its HE system are•Respond to a growing demand for accountability and trust by all stakeholders

It was in 2003 that we begin in Lebanon to define a national strategy for Higher Education and that was after the creation of the Directorate General of Higher Education (DGHE) in 2002.

This national strategy stresses on the need of developing Quality Assurance mechanisms in public and private higher education sector.

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DGHE put an action plan to promote and disseminate the cultural of Quality assurance in Higher Education through multiple actions.

In 2003, a national conference inviting all higher education institutions and political personalities discussed during three days the necessity and the impact of Quality assurance standards and procedures on the HEIs.

In 2004, the DGHE put in place an audit process for all higher education institutions in Lebanon, based on the regulations defined in the existing HE law and the criteria defined in the decree 9274/96.

Many national workshops and conferences were organized to discuss the issue and the important of QA system in HEI. All stakeholders should be involved.

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Many Tempus projects have been implemented since 2005, In collaboration with Lebanese HEIs and the EU :

• QAHEL: Quality Assurance for Higher Education in Lebanon• LEPAC: Lebanese Engineering Programs Accreditation Commission• DEFI-AVERREOS: To develop Employability Pathways between

engineering education & Engineering sector.• TLQAA: Towards Lebanese Quality Assurance Agency

World Bank project: • “University Governance Screening Card UGSC” in 2012 & 2013

These actions were accompanied by the preparation of new national regulations. Proposals of three related laws:•The first aims to regulate private higher education sector, •The second to create a Lebanese Quality Assurance Agency, •And the third to establish a structure for the Directorate General of Higher Education.

Existing Experience in Lebanon(1)

Tempus – QAHEL (2005-2007) Objectives include:

– Design and Develop three guides in quality assurance for higher education.

– Train Lebanese academics in the field. – Encourage and help higher education institutions to establish their

own institutional quality centers.

A steering committee was formed from the representatives of the Universities and the Ministry.

The steering committee agreed to: – Evaluate Quality in Lebanon (How do you see yourself?) – Set a target of where do they want to be (How do you see others

and others see you) – Manage the change (design a strategy with training Guides) 18

Existing Experience in Lebanon (2)

Tempus – LEPAC (2006-2008)

The project LEPAC, aims at putting in place an accreditation system for engineering education in Lebanon.

This system should be based on the International Standards and Procedures such as ABET and EUR-ACE standards

Outcomes:

–System to QA of Engineering programs

–Set of standards

–Set of procedures

Has not been followed up …

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Existing Experience in Lebanon (3)

Tempus DEFI-AVERREOS (2010-2013)Objective:

To develop mechanisms that help in promoting the employment of new graduates in engineering sector.

This can be done through:

Part 1: The Education Program: professionalize the education to strengthen the skills of graduates, this means:• better prepare students for the world of work • shorten the time between graduation and first job • make the graduate directly operational in the company after their recruitment

Part 2: Improving the employability of graduates: through the creation of a center or a liaison office with the socio-economic world

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Higher Education Reform Experts (HERE)

Established in 2008.

HERE team has made a considerable effort in:•Disseminating the principles of the Bologna Process, •Training more than 160 academics on issues like learning outcomes, credit systems, internal quality assurance, diploma supplements and qualifications framework,

The team has played a significant role in two initiatives put forward by the Ministry: one related to the drafting of a law for the creation of a national agency for Quality Assurance in higher education, the other one aims at the definition of a Lebanese National Qualifications Framework.

Existing Experience in Lebanon (5)

Law in Parliament for a Lebanese QA agency

– Creating independent agency

– All stakeholders represented in the board of trustees

• Including the order of engineers

– First institutional evaluation then programs evaluation (including Engineering programs)

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Existing Experience in Lebanon (6)

Towards the Lebanese Quality Assurance Agency (TLQAA)

Tempus project started in 2011

Objectives achieved– Definition of a model for the Lebanese QA System inline

with the draft law in parliament

– Set of nine standards defined

– Criteria for the selection of experts– Training of 30 Lebanese experts in France and Spain

agencies

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Existing Experience in Lebanon (7)

Towards the Lebanese Quality Assurance Agency (TLQAA)

Objectives achieved (cont.)– Procedures and tools of external evaluation– Guide for self-evaluation

– Ten Lebanese universities produced their self-studies

– Five universities undergone external evaluation by five different committees

– External reports handed in to the presidents of the five universities

Order of engineers has participated in several national roundtable organized within the project.

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“University Governance Screening Card UGSC”

It builds on the strategy in the “Better Governance for Development in the Middle East and North Africa “.16 Lebanese universities in 2012 and 13 in 2013 participated in this benchmark as a tool for promoting change from the total of 100 Arab universities. The DGHE in Lebanon was the promoter of this action.

The five dimensions of governance taken into account by the UGSC are: Overall Context, Mission, and Goals1.Management Orientation2.Autonomy3.Accountability4.Participation

Outcomes Impact on institutionsTaskforce team for governance

World Bank project

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ConclusionsOur goal: a competitive HE system promoting our cultural values and enhancing the employability of our graduates.

We believe that the different actions that we have launched in collaboration with the Lebanese HEIs and other stakeholders were very fruitful.

Three draft laws are waiting approval by parliament, they all converge to establish a best practice with good quality assurance mechanisms in the Lebanese HEIs.

Many actions have been initiated in the Arab world to develop QA mechanisms for engineering programs.

We believe that the coordination of the actions taken by the federations of engineers in the different Arab countries and by the Association of Arab Universities is a major issue.

ABET accredit engineering programs all over USA and in other countries (including Lebanon), then an Arab Accreditation body for engineering programs may federate all the previously mentioned actions.

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Thank you

Ahmad JAMMAL, Prof. Dr.Director general of Higher EducationMinistry of Education & Higher EducationDGHE, Habib Abi Chahla StreetBeside UNESCO PalaceBeirut, LebanonPhone: +961.1.77250 or +961.1.772677Fax: +961.1.772529

Web Site: www.higher-edu.gov.lbTwitter: @ajammal_lbEmails: a-jammal@hotmail.com

ajammal@ieee.org ajammal@higher-edu.gov.lb