When international reports refer to higher education in the Middle East and North Africa, it is often in terms of crisis. The 2003 Human Development Report (UNDP 2004) underscored the limitations on knowledge production posed by authoritarian governance, still present in most states in the region. The World Bank document “The Road not travelled” (World Bank 2008) deplores the lack of sustainable reform initiatives in order to adjust higher education systems to the labor market. The Arab Uprisings starting in 2010, at least partly initiated by young graduates that protested for better education and employment opportunities, has not been a game-changer to this situation (Mazawi 2011). Higher education in the Arab states is often perceived as a phenomena with a glorious path that has since long faded into denial.
Describing university traditions in the Arab countries would however miss the point, if it would portray today’s problems and prospects in higher education only in contrast to...
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Kohstall, F. (2018). University Traditions in the Middle East and North Africa. In: Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_6-1
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