Vision:
Achieving Arab integration in the field of higher education and scientific research to enhance the capacities of Arab universities and produce advanced knowledge, and to broaden the horizons of scientific research in all vital fields.
Mission:
The conference focuses on enhancing cooperation among the Arab states in the fields of higher education and scientific research through exchanging experiences and developing academic educational methods, and providing an innovative research environment that contributes to the advancement of the Arab region.
Objectives:
Developing mechanisms of cooperation among Arab universities.
Enhancing scientific research and its practical applications in advanced fields.
Improving the quality of higher education in the Arab region.
Raising the level of interaction between scientific research and market needs.
Developing policies to support higher education in the Arab states.
Expected outputs:
Establishing research partnerships among Arab universities.
Developing joint academic programmes among universities.
Directing financial and technical support to scientific research related to sustainable development issues in the Arab states.
Previous sessions of the ALECSO Conference of Ministers Responsible for Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World
To download in PDF file format: click here Conference 01: "Higher Education and Comprehensive Development" Algiers, the Algerian Republic - May 1981
The conference addressed the role of higher education in achieving comprehensive development in the Arab states and examined the means capable of ensuring that role. The conference's recommendations directed to the states came in the fields of comprehensive development, Arab self-development, developing scientific competencies, integration among the Arab countries in the field of higher education, and higher education for Palestinians. The conference also directed recommendations to the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, most notably organizing the "Conference of Ministers Responsible for Higher Education in the Arab World on a periodic basis", and forming a committee to follow up the implementation of the recommendations of the first conference.Conference 02: "The Arabization of Higher Education and Policies for Enrolment in It in the Arab World" Tunis, the Tunisian Republic, October 1983
The second conference addressed two issues:
the Arabization of higher education and policies for enrolment in it in the Arab World, and focused on the necessity of providing the requirements for Arabizing higher education from the legislative, organizational, financial and scientific aspects, especially, and benefiting from the experiences of other societies in this field in a manner that strengthens the relationship of the university with society and helps in receiving and producing scientific knowledge in the Arabic language. The conference's recommendations were numerous, related to the needs of higher education in some Arab states, and its Arabization, recommending the establishment of the Arab Center for Arabization, Translation, Authorship and Publishing, the Arab Authority for Higher Studies and Scientific Research, and external cultural cooperation.Conference 03: "The Teaching Body in Universities: Developing Human Competencies in the Arab World in Higher Education and Scientific Research" Baghdad - the Republic of Iraq, October 1985
The conference addressed the topic of the teaching body in universities and developing human competencies in higher education and scientific research in the Arab states, and discussed ways to develop the capacities of teachers and care for their professional path. The conference's recommendations came affirming the necessity of following up the implementation of the recommendations of the second conference, and also covered the teaching body in Arab universities in terms of attracting its members, preparing them, developing their skills and enhancing their role and status so that they may carry out their tasks and duties, and it examined ways of attracting them to the profession, programmes for their preparation, developing their competencies, selecting them, promoting them, and the problems and difficulties they face.Conference 04: "Graduate Studies and Scientific Research in the Arab World" Damascus, the Syrian Arab Republic, 1989
The conference discussed the topic of
graduate studies and scientific research in the Arab World and ways to advance them, so the recommendations came calling for developing the policies directed at graduate studies and scientific research in the Arab World, especially with regard to following up the expansion in creating graduate studies departments to meet development needs for specialized senior cadres, providing the requirements of graduate studies and scientific research, strengthening the relationships between scientific research bodies and the productive and service sectors, and building an information and data system that fulfils the purposes of scientific research, benefits from global information centers, and helps in managing knowledge in production, use and dissemination.
Proceedings book of the fourth conference (4) (click here)Conference 05: "The Future of Higher Education and Development in the Arab World" Benghazi, the State of Libya, 1991
The recommendations of the conference, which addressed
the topic of the future of higher education and development in the Arab World, included general aspects related to higher education and to following up the implementation of the strategy for developing science and culture, preparing a strategy for higher education in the Arab World, Arab cooperation in the field of science and technology, the Linguistic Corpus project, and the role of science in social development and economic development.Conference 06: "Higher Education and Scientific Research: Reality and Development" Algiers, the Algerian Republic, May 1996
The recommendations of the conference, which was devoted to discussing
the reality of higher education and scientific research and ways of developing them, addressed topics related to establishing an advanced information system at the level of each Arab country, working to provide the necessary financing for scientific research, calling on the states to employ emigrant Arab scientific expertise in joint scientific research, working to enhance the efficiency of higher education in the Arab World and develop its objectives, giving technical and vocational education an advanced rank in the priority ladder, and the necessity of exerting efforts to achieve a comprehensive Arabization of higher education that meets the needs of society and helps in achieving comprehensive development.Conference 07: "Higher Education and Scientific Research to Face the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century" Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, April 1999
The conference's recommendations focused on topics related to identifying applied scientific research of shared priority in the Arab states, calling for increasing the appropriations allocated to scientific research, as well as establishing precise controls and standards for licensing private higher education institutions in a way that ensures quality control, calling for adopting the concept of the productive university. At the level of ALECSO, the conference recommended the necessity of developing an Arab strategy in the field of informatics.
Proceedings book of the seventh conference (7) (click here)The First Exceptional Conference of Ministers Responsible for Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World, Beirut, the Lebanese Republic, 2000
The recommendations of the first exceptional conference specifically addressed the proposal to hold a workshop in which specialists from the Arab states participated to monitor the experiences of the Arab states in this field. And identifying the requirements of distance learning and open learning that must be available to implement this method among education methods, establishing quality controls for this type of education, and presenting the results of the work of this workshop to the eighth conference of their Excellencies the Ministers.
Conference 08: "The Qualitative Quality of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World to Face Future Challenges" Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt, December 2001
The conference's recommendations included multiple aspects, most notably calling on the Arab states to establish Arab standards for quality and academic excellence, and to establish national bodies and councils to control and ensure quality in public and private higher education and scientific research institutions. Also, calling for implementing pioneering projects to develop the administrations of higher education and scientific research institutions by benefiting from total quality management systems. And diversifying the sources of higher education financing and using non-traditional means in that. The recommendations also affirmed the right of the Arab individual to education and to possessing the means of science and technology, and confronting the methods practiced by foreign forces that infringe upon the rights of the Arab individual and his national and religious beliefs.Conference 09: "Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Knowledge Society" Damascus, the Syrian Arab Republic, December 2003
The conference's orientations addressed fundamental topics related to
the knowledge society, most notably calling on the Arab states to establish integrated informatics infrastructure at universities and scientific research centers, and to adopt projects to disseminate informatics culture and digital knowledge. The recommendations also called on the Arab states to create and activate information databases and observatories capable of following up the development of the knowledge society, as well as developing work tools and smart software for teaching the Arabic language and teaching it to be a tool among the tools of digital knowledge. The recommendations affirmed the necessity of establishing mechanisms for Arab knowledge integration and exchange and supporting these mechanisms by establishing specialized scientific structures in the field of generating and disseminating knowledge. The recommendations also called for building national innovation systems that contribute to providing the necessary framework for achieving the knowledge society and modernizing educational curricula in a way that leads to building a knowledge culture and acquiring creative and critical thinking skills starting from the early stages of education.
Proceedings book of the ninth conference (9) (click here)Conference 10: "Excellence and Creativity in Higher Education", Taiz, the Republic of Yemen, December 2005
The conference's orientations and recommendations addressed many topics, most notably: proposing the formation of the founding committee to study the establishment of an Arab institution for quality assurance and accreditation in higher education. Proposing the establishment of an Arab network for coordination among national accreditation bodies, urging those states that do not have them to establish their national accreditation bodies, giving the Arabic language the necessary attention without neglecting other languages, and having the Organization study this matter carefully and develop a practical programme in this framework. Establishing mechanisms for selecting the top leaders of universities and higher education institutions in a way that achieves the principle of competitiveness. Calling for developing an integrated strategy to develop excellence and creativity among general education students as an entry point to higher education. And calling for achieving integration between general education and higher education in educational curricula. And encouraging joint research that addresses Arab issues of shared interest in the field of higher education and scientific research. Calling on Arab governments to review the service (retirement) systems for teaching staff members at higher education institutions in a way that achieves maximum benefit from their accumulated knowledge and expertise. And calling on the Arab states to expand in linking Arab universities and research institutions electronically, and achieving effective communication for them with their counterparts, at the regional and global levels. And enhancing the competencies of teaching staff members at universities and higher education institutions through sustainable professional development.
Proceedings book of the tenth conference (10) (click here)Conference 11: "The Globalization of Higher Education: Arab Identity and the Imperative of Development" Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, November 2007
The conference's orientations and recommendations examined many topics, most notably: enhancing the independence of the scientific and knowledge mission of higher education institutions and increasing the space of academic, organizational, administrative and financial freedoms for those institutions to provide opportunities for development and creativity within the framework of preserving identity and openness to the world, calling for adopting quality assurance systems and information and communication technology as basic pillars of the modern higher education system, giving attention to the Arabic language as one of the basic requirements for refining the scientific and cultural personality of the researcher and student, supporting the concerned entities to carry out this role, placing the Arabic language among the components of the international informatics system, and enhancing its status as a language of research and teaching. And working to establish an information network linking higher education institutions in the Arab states. And calling on the Arab states that have not completed the establishment of national quality assurance bodies to take the initiative to establish these bodies. And calling on the ministries of higher education and scientific research in the Arab states to allocate scholarships for Palestinian students, especially students residing in Arab Jerusalem, in addition to calling on the Arab states to benefit from the services of the Regional Center for Information and Communication Technology that will be established in the Kingdom of Bahrain.Conference 12: "Aligning the Outputs of Higher Education with the Needs of Society in the Arab World" Beirut, the Lebanese Republic, December 2009
The conference's recommendations and orientations included many topics, most notably calling on the Arab states to support the partnership between universities and the economic environment and to work on involving civil society sectors in financing scientific research activities and employing their results, completing the establishment of independent national bodies for quality assurance and academic accreditation in higher education, preparing programmes for joint cooperation among Arab universities and scientific research centers, while working to raise the percentage of the gross domestic product allocated to scientific research. The recommendations called on ALECSO to prepare an Arab guide that facilitates reading the scientific certificates and academic records issued by Arab higher education institutions to facilitate student mobility, establishing a mechanism for coordination among the national bodies for quality assurance and academic accreditation in the Arab states and helping in exchanging experiences and harmonizing standards, and preparing a database on resident and emigrant Arab minds and proposing a plan to benefit from them.
Proceedings book of the twelfth conference (12) (click here)Conference 13: "Developing the Administration of Higher Education in the Arab World" Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, December 2011
The conference's orientations and recommendations addressed many topics, most notably calling on the Arab states to: develop the legislation and administrative systems of higher education and scientific research institutions in a way that enhances their independence and neutrality and enhances transparency and quality, and establish standards and mechanisms for selecting academic and administrative leaders. And completing the establishment of national bodies to sponsor and develop scientific research and providing the Arab Observatory for Education with statistics and pioneering experiences related to the administration of higher education to benefit from them and disseminate them, and working to keep higher education institutions away from political conflicts that affect their educational mission, and the future of students in order to advance higher education and scientific research. In addition to calling on the Organization to develop a programme to improve the governance of higher education and scientific research institutions in the Arab World, in cooperation with regional and international organizations and financing institutions, and to establish a mechanism for coordination among the institutions and national bodies responsible for scientific research in the Arab World.Conference 14: "Developing Open Learning and Distance Learning in Universities" Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, March 2014
The conference issued a number of recommendations directed to the Arab states regarding
attention to open learning and distance learning, as well as to establish legislation and policies for expanding open learning and distance learning and to work on finding mechanisms of cooperation and coordination among them. And to consider the mutual recognition and accreditation of the academic degrees and certificates issued by the branches of the Arab Open University, and it also recommended integrating e-learning technologies into the curricula and education administrations in all tracks of university education. As well as caring for consolidating the foundations and skills of scientific research among youth and the young. The Arab universities were recommended to give special attention to teaching and learning the Arabic language, and benefiting from distance learning. At the level of ALECSO, the recommendations centered on conducting comparative studies between the outputs of open learning and formal education to determine the extent of their alignment with the labor market. And preparing regional and global reference studies and comparisons of the mechanisms for accrediting academic qualifications issued by open learning and distance learning institutions. And to work on effective coordination among open learning and distance learning institutions, reaching the adoption of joint standards and mechanisms for academic qualifications in the Arab World. And cooperating with the competent authorities in the Arab states to unify the terminology specific to the concepts of e-learning, open learning and distance learning. The conference also directed a call to the ministries of higher education and scientific research in the Arab World to submit a comprehensive report on the developments and achievements they made during the period extending between 1981 and until 2013. The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and ALECSO were called upon to take the required measures to adopt the Arab Strategy for Technical Scientific Research and Innovation.Conference 15: "Financing Higher Education in the Arab World" Alexandria, the Arab Republic of Egypt, December 2015
The conference addressed the topic of financing higher education based on a descriptive and analytical approach, and on data and comparisons between the experiences, policies and models adopted by the Arab states in financing higher education in a context of intertwined and influential demographic, social and economic variables, to affirm the magnitude of the challenges, stakes and difficulties facing the higher education system in the issue of financing in all Arab states, and to show that despite the multiplicity of attempts in searching for sources to finance universities, and despite the positive results achieved in some Arab states in the field, achieving the missing equation remains elusive, which is the equation represented in enabling higher education institutions in the Arab World to provide good university educational service and to ensure the principle of equal opportunities and the right to learn and fairness among all in enrolling in the university.
The conference approved the formation of a follow-up committee from each of: the state of the president of the fifteenth (15) conference, the two states of the vice-presidents, the state hosting the sixteenth (16) conference, and ALECSO, to undertake the development of practical mechanisms and timetables to implement the recommendations issued by this conference.
It issued a number of recommendations directed to the Arab states regarding making data, statistics and information available to develop indicators to measure the performance and outputs of education and scientific research and measure the return from it. And calling on them to diversify the sources of financing higher education and scientific research through: the educational research endowment (waqf) and the contribution of institutions of the civil and private sectors, rationalizing free education, increasing the productive contribution of universities, scientific and research chairs, contributions of graduates, and attention to digital education programmes and controlling them. And calling on the Arab states to exchange experiences in the field of financing governance and good practices, and calling on the Arab states to exchange experiences, students and professors among successful Arab universities and academies, and calling on the Arab states to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and protect its educational and university institutions from the repeated Israeli violations that affected students, professors and infrastructure and to condemn them, through the following: increasing the scholarships allocated to Palestinian students in Arab universities, benefiting from Palestinian professors, and from the expertise accumulated in Palestine in the fields of e-learning, open learning and distance learning, and encouraging cooperation between Palestinian universities and Arab universities. And calling on the Arab states to enhance the efforts of the Somali government in advancing the education and scientific research sectors through supporting the donors' conference sponsored by the State of Kuwait and the two organizations ALECSO and ISESCO.
And calling on ALECSO to prepare an in-depth study on the educational and research endowment and ways to disseminate the culture of this financing, and calling on the Organization to organize a workshop on "Higher Education and Spreading Enlightened Thought to Confront Extremism" in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education in the Arab Republic of Egypt and coordination with the Arab states, and calling on ALECSO to review the name of the proposed council to align with the tasks assigned to it, in accordance with the Arab Strategy for Scientific, Technological Research and Innovation, and amending the proposed statute in accordance with the tasks and objectives specific to the proposed committee, and authorizing the Executive Council of the Organization to adopt the draft statute of the committee after ensuring the completion of the drafting.Conference 16: "Arab Higher Education and the World of Work and Production, a New Vision" the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt, December 2017
The sixteenth (16) conference addressed the relationship of higher education with the world of work and production and examined its competitive advantage and its operational capacity through a new vision that aligns national development needs with the requirements of a global economy that imposes its conditions and standards. The conference concluded with issuing an enormous number of recommendations, some of which are directed to the Arab states, such as integrated planning for higher education, scientific research and the sectors of work and production, within the framework of the national vision for sustainable development of each state, its priorities and its elements of relative excellence. And working to review the national legislation and laws regulating the relationship of higher education and scientific research institutions with the labor market for the purpose of enhancing the partnership between them, and encouraging youth to join work in the private sector. And establishing national databases on graduates and employment opportunities, taking into account international standards in protecting personal data, and linking them to the Arab Network for Labor Market Information of the Arab Labor Organization to enumerate the numbers and types of jobs and the educational requirements specific to each existing and expected future job. And developing the capacities of Arab youth, university students and graduates to provide them with the global skills that facilitate their obtaining global employment opportunities, as well as Arab and local work opportunities. And supporting higher education and scientific research institutions that were damaged by conflicts or acts of sabotage or under occupation and rehabilitating them by governments as well as private institutions.
In addition to recommendations directed to the private sector, such as financing applied scientific research chairs at universities and research centers to support projects for developing production and solving its problems in the various economic sectors based on a scientific basis. And sponsoring educational and qualification programmes for the specializations required at higher education and scientific research institutions, within the framework of integrated planning between the two sectors and a future vision for the needs of the work sector, and supporting business incubators at higher education and scientific research institutions, developing startups and making them successful.
The conference also directed two recommendations to the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, which are continuing coordination with the member states to develop an "Arab Framework for Higher Education Qualifications". And working to disseminate successful Arab experiences and expertise in the field of linking higher education with the labor market.
Conference 17: "Artificial Intelligence and Education in the Arab States" Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt, December 2019
The conference addressed the topic of artificial intelligence and education in the Arab states, addressing through the main study and the set of studies prepared by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization for the purpose the challenges facing the Arab states in benefiting from the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the stakes they want to win by employing artificial intelligence applications in education to help in achieving digital transformation and improving education systems and improving their outputs. The conference (17) sought to achieve a number of objectives, including foreseeing the ways of localizing artificial intelligence and benefiting from its positives in developing the two systems of higher education and scientific research in the Arab states, sharing knowledge and benefiting from good practices by linking universities, scientific research institutions and researchers in a comprehensive network for the purpose of achieving integration in policies, strategies and programmes, and enabling the Arab states to exchange their experiences in employing artificial intelligence in higher education and scientific research.
The conference concluded by approving a set of recommendations, among them taking the necessary procedures and measures at various levels to achieve comprehensive digital transformation to reduce digital gaps, ensuring equal opportunities to benefit from the use of artificial intelligence, working to develop general policies and executive plans to enhance the employment of artificial intelligence in education and scientific research, and in shared Arab issues, fields and challenges such as language, culture, environment and disasters, and securing the local coordination that this requires among the concerned entities internally and externally.Conference 18: "Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World on the Horizon of 2030: Vision and Orientations" Algiers, the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, December 2021
The conference addressed the topic "Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World on the Horizon of 2030: Vision and Orientations", addressing through the main study in two parts higher education and scientific research (diagnosing the reality of Arab higher education and comparing it internationally in light of the objectives of the Education 2030 programme, and scientific research in the Arab states: reality, challenges and prospects), and the set of studies prepared by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization within the framework of implementing the recommendations of the conference (17), and the conference (17) sought to achieve a number of objectives, including discussing mechanisms for raising the performance of university and research institutions in the Arab World, evaluating what has been accomplished to achieve the fourth of the Sustainable Development Goals: the Education 2030 programme, benefiting from comparative experiences to develop future maps to support the adequacy of Arab higher education and scientific research, discussing the new orientations of higher education and scientific research systems in order to formulate a forward-looking Arab vision for higher education and scientific research, and presenting the executive plan of the general framework for Arab scientific research in the social, cultural and economic fields
The conference issued a number of recommendations that included encouraging Arab research and academic unity among Arab universities, developing their national qualifications frameworks or updating them to keep pace with variables to draw on them in developing the joint Arab framework, enhancing scientific research in the humanities and social sciences, drawing on the best Arab practices and experiences in this field and exchanging them and benefiting from them, focusing on applied research and encouraging its publication and availability, and linking it to the needs of the public and private economic and social sector, supporting the major qualitative projects implemented by ALECSO in the fields of localizing artificial intelligence, the Arab ranking of universities, supporting the ALECSO Observatory by providing it with data and statistics specific to the education and scientific research sector, adopting the ALECSO initiative to use blockchain technology in documenting scientific certificates and protecting them from forgery, and adopting the draft executive plan of the general framework for Arab scientific research in the social, cultural and economic fields. Documenting best practices in the fields of scientific research, academic accreditation, and governance, working to disseminate them, converting the recommendations specific to performance measurement indicators for the uses of artificial intelligence into a questionnaire and disseminating it to the Arab states, following up progress in accomplishment periodically, coordinating with the Arab states to propose an Arab programme for joint research projects and mechanisms for financing them, and cooperating with the United Arab Emirates to benefit from its experience in smart education.
Proceedings book of the eighteenth conference (18) (click here)Conference 19: "A Flexible Higher Education System Keeping Pace with Rapid and Steady Global Changes" Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, November 2024
The conference addressed the topic "A Flexible Higher Education System Keeping Pace with Rapid and Steady Global Changes", through the main document of the conference which highlighted the technological trends that revolutionized the education sector, which is the ability of computer systems to perform tasks that require human intelligence such as learning, inference, and problem-solving, where artificial intelligence can be used in analyzing data and making decisions built on those analyses. Flexible learning is an educational approach that allows learners to control the time, place, and pace of their learning. It enables providing an educational environment not restricted by traditional classrooms, which allows students to access educational resources whenever and wherever they want. The use of artificial intelligence in flexible education aims at the personal customization of learning, where artificial intelligence can analyze the performance of each student and provide customized learning plans that suit his needs and educational level, which allows students to learn the subjects according to their abilities. And at adaptive assessment: where artificial intelligence enables adjusting tests based on the student's level, so that the questions are more or less difficult depending on performance, which makes assessment flexible and effective. In addition to self-learning: where artificial intelligence tools are used in virtual lessons and smart assistants, which enables students to learn independently and at the speed that suits them, and flexible learning also enables virtual teachers, as artificial intelligence systems provide individual guidance, answer questions immediately, and help in solving problems, which allows an effective and interactive learning experience. In addition to predicting performance and future guidance, where artificial intelligence enables analyzing performance data and predicting the potential difficulties that may face the student, which helps them provide an early warning in case of his stumbling. And smart content organization: artificial intelligence can organize educational materials in flexible, innovative and enjoyable ways, such as dividing content into small units for learning as needed.
To apply the integration between artificial intelligence and flexible learning in universities, an educational platform relying on artificial intelligence can be made available to provide a customized educational experience for each student. This platform can include components such as performance analysis, providing customized educational recommendations, and providing detailed reports to teachers on the progress of each student.
A number of scientific documents related to the topic of the conference and the subject of the recommendations of the conference (18) were presented to the conference, which are: "The General Framework for the ALECSO Strategy for Developing Creativity and Innovation in Higher Education Institutions in the Arab States", "Developing University Education Programmes in the Arab States in Light of Future Skills and Professions", the "Joint Arab Framework for Qualifications", "The Arab System Project for Verifying the Credibility of Scientific Certificates and Protecting Them from Forgery Using Blockchain Technologies", and the "ALECSO Fund for Scientific Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation", in addition to the experiences of the Arab states participating in the topic of the conference,
The conference issued a number of recommendations that included encouraging the Arab states to adopt, enhance and organize artificial intelligence technologies in driving the wheel of development in higher education and scientific research in the Arab states, encouraging higher education institutions in the member states to adopt flexible education methods, improving the feasibility of education through exchange, mutual and international cooperation and establishing partnerships, encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, converting the outputs of scientific research into practical applications that support economic growth and societal welfare, calling on the Arab states to benefit from the guiding framework for qualifications and align the standards of education and vocational training, joining the ALECSO initiative for a unified Arab system to verify the validity of scientific certificates issued by higher education institutions using blockchain technology, and calling on ALECSO to enhance Arab cooperation in the field of scientific research.
