1887
Volume 2015, Issue 1
  • EISSN: 1703-1958

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the challenges faced by a private university in the United Arab Emirates in balancing the specific needs of the country's educational system with the requirements of both national reporting measures and international accreditation. It highlights some critical issues, restraints and innovations in education reform.

A higher education system of quality is necessary for the evolution of a society. Yet, in an increasingly globalised world, when information regarding local culture and the local community is subsumed by standardised information required by international accreditation agencies, higher education institutions are tasked with matching the ambitious goals they have with very diverse local realities. In-depth interviews with administrators, faculty members and students resulted in narratives that shed light on what participants perceive as the challenges to achieving international standards in an environment with many local constraints.

Strategic questions are also posed as to what shape the development of a national higher education system should take. This is against the backdrop of a recent proliferation of branch campuses of foreign universities and private universities in the Gulf region in general, and the United Arab Emirates in particular, that are primarily self-funding.

This study provides recommendations to educational leaders and policy planners to arrive at plausible, meaningful solutions to the issue of taking into account often-neglected local contextual realities, to help provide for quality education to the local population while at the same time meeting international standards.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5339/nmejre.2015.4
2015-11-04
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/nmejre/2015/1/nmejre.2015.4.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.5339/nmejre.2015.4&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Ali AAG. Internal sustainability and economic growth in the Arab states. 2001;. Retrieved from www.arab-api.org/images/publication/pdfs/280/280_wps0902.pdf .
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Ang S, Van Dyne L, Koh CK, Templer C, Tay C, Chandrasekar NA. Cultural intelligence: Its measurement and effects on cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance. Management and Organization Review. 2007; 3:3:335371.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bleiklie I, Kogan M. Organization and governance of universities. Higher Education Policy. 2007; 20::477493.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Boje D. Narrative methods for organisation and communication research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications 2000.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Cochran JE. Disillusionment with higher education in the Middle East and the United States. 2011;. Retrieved from www.files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ969857.pdf .
    [Google Scholar]
  6. DiMaggio PJPowell WW, eds. The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press 1991.
  7. Dodds A. How does globalization interact with higher education? The continuing lack of consensus. Comparative Education. 2008; 44:4:505517.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Friedrichs J. The meaning of new medievalism. European Journal of International Relations. 2001; 7:4:475502.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Goby VP, Nickerson C. Accreditation and assessment of learning in the UAE. Quality Assurance in Education,. 2014; 22:3:212225, doi:10.1108/QAE-05-2013-0023 .
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Gonzales LD, Núñez AM. The ranking regime and the production of knowledge: Implications for academia. Education Policy Analysis Archives. 2014; 22:31, Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v22n31.2014 .
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Gulf News. Sheikh Zayed in quotes. Gulf News. 2005, October 31;. Retrieved from http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/general/shaikh-zayed-in-quotes-1.306268 .
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Harvey D. A brief history of neoliberalism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press 2005.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Hodgson S, Clausen T. 2012, January;, Business education accreditation in the Middle East and North Africa: An interview with John Fernandes of the AACSB. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amle.2011.0537 .
  14. Lindblad S, Lindblad RF. Transnational governance of higher education: On globalization and international university ranking lists. The Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. 2009; 108:2:180202.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Martin T, O'Brien M. Local needs, external requirements: Balancing the needs of a country's educational system with the requirements of international recognition. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues,. 2011; 4:2:142147.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Mazawi A. The academic profession in a rentier state: The professoriate in Saudi Arabia. Minerva. 2005; 43::221244.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. McHarg M. Reconceptualizing the Writing Center in the wake of local admissions: Redefining Writing Centers in Qatar. Arab World English Journal. 2014, September; 5:3. Retrieved from www.awej.org/index.php?option = com_content&view..id = 51 .
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Meyer JW, Rowan B. Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology. 1977; 83:2:340. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/226550 .
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Miles MB, Huberman AM. Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Newbury Park, CA: Sage 1994.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Morgan J. The impact of AACSB business school accreditation on quality of accounting education as measured by CPA exam success rates. Business Education Digest Foundation. 2011; 18::1.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Mumper M, Gladieux LE, King JE, Corrigan ME. The federal government and higher education. In: Altbach PGGumport PJBerdahl RO, eds. American higher education in the twenty-first century - Social, political, and economic challenges. 3rd ed. Baltimore, ML: John Hopkins University Press 2011;:113138.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Nadiri MI. Economic challenges and prospects for Gulf economies. 1994. Retrieved from www.econ.nyu.edu/user/nadiri/pub82.PDF .
  23. Noori N, Anderson PK. Globalization, governance, and the diffusion of the American model of education: Accreditation agencies and American-style universities in the Middle East. International Journal of Politics Culture and Society. 2013; 26:2:159172.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Porter GL. Professional accounting education-back to the future? Management Accounting. 1992; 73::6364.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Romani V. The politics of higher education in the Middle East: Problems and prospects. Middle East Brief. 2009;. Retrieved from www.brandeis.edu/crown/publications/meb/MEB36.pdf .
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Rusch EA, Wilbur C. Shaping institutional environments: The process of becoming legitimate. The Review of Higher Education. 2007; 30:3:301318. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2007.0014 .
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Powell WDiMaggio P, eds. Unpacking institutional arguments. The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press 1991;:143163.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Scott WR. (1991). Unpacking institutional arguments. In W. Powell & P. DiMaggio (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis, (pp. 143–63). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
  29. Silverman D. Interpreting Qualitative Data. 5th ed. London: Sage Publications 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Slaughter S, Leslie LL. Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press 1997.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Smith G. Wake up, AACSB. Strategic Finance. 2007; 89:2:18.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Sultana R. Les défis de l'enseignement supérieur dans les pays méditerranéens. Monde Arabe Maghreb-Machrek. 2001;171–17226–41.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. UAE Ministry of Education and Youth. Vision 2020: Pillars, strategic objectives, projects and implementation programs for UAE education development. Abu Dhabi: UAE Ministry of Education and Youth 2000.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. UAE Ministry of Education and Youth. Summary statistics 2001–2002. Dubai: UAE Ministry of Education and Youth 2002.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Zammuto RF. Accreditation and the globalization of business. Academy of Management Learning and Education. 2008; 7:2:256268.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.5339/nmejre.2015.4
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): accreditationbranch campuseshigher educationprivate universities and United Arab Emirates
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error