Upcoming Conference on Higher Education in the GCC States: building economies, societies and nations

Upcoming Conference on Higher Education in the GCC States: building economies, societies and nations

Further information and a full conference programme are available on the LMEI website.

Nowhere in the world is higher education expanding as rapidly as it is in the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Accompanying expansion of tertiary education has been a growing awareness by GCC decision makers of challenges confronting higher education and alternative approaches to dealing with them. One such challenge has been to link higher education more effectively to job markets and economies in general. In addition, higher education also plays a key role in shaping the beliefs, attitudes and behaviour of young adults, hence a determining one for the future of societies and polities.

The GCC countries also face many operational questions. Given the importance of higher education and the range of policy options available, each GCC country has come up with its own, distinctive approach. For that reason and because of their direct knowledge of the subject, policy makers from the various GCC countries will be key participants in the conference.

The conference will investigate how the different GCC states are responding to the challenges of shaping higher education to meet economic, social and political objectives. It will do so by first providing an overview of the current state of tertiary education in the Gulf; by then identifying the common objectives of higher education and specifying what the policy choices are and issues involved with the implementation of those objectives; and will conclude by examining how different GCC states have constructed policy mixes for their tertiary educational sectors.

The conference highlights will include welcoming remarks from Professor Paul Webley, Director of SOAS, an address by the GCC Secretary General H. E. Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah as well as sessions on the Objectives of Higher Education, Implementing Higher Education and National Policy Responses to Higher Education Challenges featuring prominent speakers from institutions of higher education in the region.

Proceedings of the conference will be published by Saqi Books

Admission: £10.00; concessions and students free (to include lunch and refreshments).
Please register to ensure availability.

Further information and conference registration: