Networking and Initiatives on Quality Standards and Integrity in Higher Education in the Middle East

Abstract

Starting from the year 2000, some Arab countries began focusing on quality assurance in the education field. Currently, 19 of the 22 Arab countries have developed good quality assurance systems in education. Most of these quality assurance organizations in the Arab world include higher education, pre-university education, and vocational education in their mandates. The idea of networking between quality assurance organizations started to develop and flourish in 2008 with the launch of the Global Initiative for Quality Assurance Capacities (GIQAC) project, managed by UNESCO, which was born out of an initiative created by the World Bank. The World Bank then corresponded with all the quality assurance organizations to develop networks and encouraged them to communicate among each other. At that time there were at least seven quality assurance networks engaged in this vital initiative. A part of this chapter is dedicated to the networks and initiatives that had remarkable influence on higher education in the Middle East and Arab region, with a focus on the Arab Network of Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ANQAHE). The relationship between quality standards and academic integrity is discussed in this chapter, with an analysis of the way quality standards are used by different Arab external quality assurance agencies (EQAAs) to promote academic integrity.