Page 9 - ELG1601 Feb Issue 433

ELmiddle east 2016

An EL Gazette supplement in association with the British Council

Middle Eastern universities top THE rankings

MATT SALUSBURY (staff, students, research)’ ele- top fifty, including Australian UAE were Emirati nationals, and
writes ment of the World University National (Canberra) in 25th, fol- these were comfortably outnum-
Rankings, which accounts for lowed by Curtin in 26th. MIT is the bered by resident nationals from
A MIDDLE Eastern univer- 7.5 per cent of the total score of USA’s highest entry in 90th place. other Arab countries.
sity tops the table in the Times 100, includes the ‘international- Why do Middle Eastern uni- Even much bigger Saudi
Higher Education’s (THE) to-domestic-student ratio’, the versities do so well? This is most Arabia, with a total population
‘world’s most international uni- ‘international-to-domestic-staff likely for the same reasons that of 27 million, has a third of its
versities 2016’ rankings. ratio’ and ‘international col- the University of Luxembourg population described as ‘foreign-
Qatar University occupies first laboration’, which is based on finds itself in second place, the ers’, according to 2014 figures
place, the American University the proportion of a university’s University of Hong Kong in from Saudi Arabia’s Central
of Sharjah (United Arab Emir- total research journal publi- third, the University of Macau Department of Statistics and
ates – UAE) is in twelfth place, cations that had at least one fifth, the National University of Information.
United Arab Emirates Univer- co-author from another univer- Singapore ninth and Innsbruck And Middle Eastern coun-
sity is in fifteenth place, and the sity in a different country. This in Austria finds itself in elev- tries have seen a huge expansion
American University of Beirut figure is adjusted to account for enth place. Small countries have of their higher education sec-
in Lebanon and King Abdulaziz each university’s subject mix a smaller student body and a tors – expansion at a scale and
University Saudi Arabia share and takes into account cita- smaller labour market, so circum- speed that outstrips the pool of
27th place. Another Saudi insti- tions of these works by scholars stances pretty much force them to talent that these countries can
tution, King Fahd University of around the world. look abroad for both faculty and provide in the form of univer-
Petroleum and Minerals, makes Within the rankings, interna- student recruitment, and to col- sity lecturers and school leavers
the upper eighties. tional outlook is scored out of laborate with universities outside who make the grade for univer-
THE notes, ‘The ability of a 100, with Qatar University in their country’s own borders. sity entry. Developing countries
university to attract undergradu- first place scoring 99.9 per cent Qatar’s population in its most where mass higher education
ates, postgraduates and faculty and universities around 200th recent (2013) census was 1.8 mil- is a relatively new phenom-
from all over the planet is key to place scoring around 65. SOLID CHOICE Qatar University comes top of the Times Higher lion, of which fewer than 300,000 enon have little choice but to be
its success on the world stage.’ Outside the Middle East, the Education ‘world’s most international universities 2016’ rankings were Qatari citizens, so every- international – they haven’t yet
These rankings, published in UK performs well. Imperial Col- thing in Qatar is bound to be very developed sufficient capacity in
mid-January, rate unis with the lege, London comes in at 8th of London in 23rd and Queen’s the multilingual Swiss. École Poly- international, not just its universi- higher education and they have
‘most international outlook’ place, with a cluster of UK insti- University Belfast in 24th place. technique Fédérale de Lausanne ties. Both the Nepali and Indian no choice but to rely on partner-
based on an ‘international out- tutions starting in 18th place, with Another cluster of UK universi- takes fourth place for international- populations of Qatar, for example, ships involving countries whose
look indicator’ built into the Oxford level with UCL, followed ties in the lower thirties includes ism, followed by Geneva in fifth, outnumber Qatar’s Qatari nation- universities are more advanced.
better-known THE World Uni- by King’s College London in St Andrews, Brunel, Cambridge ETH Zurich in seventh place and als. At the last census just 19 per While two Middle Eastern insti-
versity Rankings 2015–16. 20th, Essex in 21st, LSE in 22nd and Aberdeen. St Gallen in eighth. cent out of a total population of tutions near the top of the table
The ‘international outlook place, Queen Mary University There’s also a strong showing by Australia has six entries in the over eight million residents in the Turn to page 12

Overcoming obstacles

SEAMUS HARKIN individuals – in some cases English sent to the teachers took them
reports from Erbil speakers can earn double the salary directly to the log-in page where
of non-English speakers. they had to type the assigned
BEFORE 1990 the education Our goal is to build capacity username and password. Only
system in Iraq was considered within the system so that there is a five teachers managed to take the
one of the best in the Middle group of well-trained professionals test successfully by the deadline.
East. By 2014, however, an esti- able to provide language training A week later, with a great deal
mated 22 per cent of Iraq’s adult for other teachers and gradually of telephone guidance, another
population had never attended raise proficiency levels across the twelve had taken the test. Not
school and only 9 per cent had sector. Originally, we planned to only was technical infrastructure
completed secondary school edu- select a group of twenty trainers going to be a barrier to success,
cation. Illiteracy is widespread, from Baghdad for trainer training. but digital literacy was also lack-
especially among women. As we searched it became clear that ing, and it was clear there would
Since 2003 conflict has desta- English language proficiency lev- need to be work in this area along
bilised the education system, with els had fallen to such an extent that with English language skills.
thousands of schools damaged we were unlikely to secure teachers To save time and make the
and looted, schools closed for whose own language skills were experience less stressful for the
extended periods and widespread good enough to support others, and teachers, we decided to use a more
teacher absenteeism due to secu- that we would need to first provide traditional pen and paper place-
rity threats. Iraq has high levels of English language training to move ment test. Fortunately, we are able
violence, mostly sectarian. a group of teachers to C1 level. to draw on a network of trainers,
Until 2014 there were daily Given the security situation, not just English specialists, from
bombings and assassinations with developing an online solution an earlier EU-funded and British-
about 700–1,000 deaths a month. appeared to be the way forward. Council-managed project to carry
The main challenge for anyone That is not without its problems, out the tests in the field. We will
working here is to find a way to though, as under 10 per cent of the also draw on these trainers to
deliver sustained and sustain- population uses the internet and provide basic IT training to the
able training given the extremely connectivity is often unreliable. teachers before they embark on
fragile security situation. It is We experimented by using the online course to ensure they
both unrealistic and expensive to an online placement test with have the skills to be successful.
provide the required security for a group of forty teachers from Our goal remains the same – to
international trainers and consult- Baghdad. Initially, around half have an elite group of trainers in Iraq
ants to work on the ground in Iraq. of them told us that they did who are able to offer quality English
The British Council is committed not have an email address, but language instruction to other teach-
to supporting the ministry of educa- within a month we had a group ers. The journey has changed and
tion in upgrading teachers’ English of 38 ready to take the test. One we have had to re-route along the
language skills. The ministry values teacher told me later that she had way. It will take longer but we will
English as a key life and employ- never used a computer before reach our destination. n
ability skill. Euromonitor reported but that her son had helped her
in 2012 that both local and interna- create an email account. Seamus Harkin is English
tional companies in Iraq recognise The online placement test we projects manager for British
the importance of English, as do selected was easy to use. A link Council Iraq, based in Erbil

Inside your 8-page Middle East supplement:
Libya & Morocco page 11
Egypt (right) page 13
Iran page 13
Syrian refugees (left) page 15
Recruitment page 16