Culture & Education | Thursday 1 February, 2018 4:32 am |

Effat University announced that it has joined the Association of Arab Universities, which includes 330 universities from 22 Arab countries.

 

This prestigious recognition strengthens Effat University’s commitment to maintain its international standards by expanding its association with educational institutions and universities in the Arab world, which will add value to current agreements with educational institutions and universities and partners such as Georgetown University, Syracuse University, Carnegie Mellon University, Duke University, Auburn University, Tisch School of the Arts, the University of Western Sydney, and Tokai University - a private university in Tokyo, Japan.

 

Dr. Haifa Jamal Al-Lail, President of Effat University expressed her pleasure that Effat University has joined the Association of Arab Universities, saying: “Becoming a member of the association is definitely a mark of recognition that will be added to the list of achievements by Effat University, especially since Effat University’s membership has increased the number of Saudi members in the association to 26, which testifies to the Kingdom’s progress in advancing and developing higher education.”

 

Association of Arab Universities, chaired by the association’s Secretary General Dr. Sultan Abu Orabi, visited Effat University and met with Dr. Haifa to review the procedures for the evaluation of its membership in the association. The delegation also reviewed the university’s facilities, laboratories and faculties, as well as the records of its faculty members and their specializations and different programs.

 

Dr. Haifa went on to say: “We at Effat University are contributing to the Kingdom’s transformation into a productive society in line with Vision 2030, and it is certain that this noble goal aligns with the main objective of the Association of Arab Universities, which is to support and coordinate the efforts of Arab universities to prepare individuals capable of serving our Arab nations and contributing to preserving their unity in terms of culture and civilization.”

 

The aims of the Association of Arab Universities include cooperation to control the quality and quality of university and higher education, to seek mutual recognition of diplomas issued by educational institutions, to promote excellence and creativity of students, to encourage student activities among educational institutions, to encourage the establishment of research centers, With applied research, linking its subjects with Arab economic and social development plans, and strengthening cooperation between educational institutions and coordinating their efforts among themselves and with universities and institutions regional and international levels, and encourage and activate the movement of students and faculty members among educational institutions.

 

Established in 1999 as the first non-profit educational institute specialized in offering higher education for girls in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Effat University today is renowned  as a center of excellence where researchers from different fields collaborate in building and expanding the knowledge base to add future value to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

 

The Association of Arab Universities is a legally independent Arab institution headquartered in Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It was established through an initiative by the Cultural Department of the League of Arab States, which sponsored two initial seminars for a number of higher education stakeholders in the Arab world, first in Benghazi in 1961 and then in Beirut in 1964, to discuss problems concerning higher education in the Arab world and the framework of technical cooperation between Arab universities. The two seminars ended with the recommendation to establish an association for Arab universities and draft a project proposing the association’s statute, which was approved by the Council of the League of Arab States. Afterwards, the first interim secretariat was established in 1965, while the first meeting was held in 1969 in Alexandria with the participation of 23 established Arab universities. The association’s interim secretariat then became a permanent secretariat, and the late Dr. Morsi Ahmed, the Minister of Higher Education of the Arab Republic of Egypt and former President of Cairo University, was elected Secretary General.