In partnership with two other universities, Palestine’s Birzeit University is seeking to develop graduates’ entrepreneurial skills, to enhance their capabilities and support their emerging startups as they struggle to become profitable. A project called “Digital Labs” is one of the latest such efforts. Digital Labs is a joint project with Palestine’s An-Najah National University and EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Arab Universities Support Startups to Stay Relevant in a Changing Labour Market Ran ..read more

For two days this week, the inaugural ICEF World Student Scholarship Education Programme will provide a platform for international education providers to connect with leaders and key decision-makers of global scholarship programmes from across the Gulf region.  The event is organised by ICEF, which develops professional networking events across the international education sector worldwide, in collaboration with Gulf Conferences, a London-based networking company with a specific focus on the Middle East. The event will take place on February 16 and 17 at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, right aft ..read more

The government body responsible for ensuring the quality of higher education in the United Arab Emirates has granted Heriot-Watt University Dubai an initial institutional licence, the university announced on Monday. The Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA), an arm of the Ministry of Education, granted the licence. The commission is designed to assure prospective students, their families, employers, and other stakeholders that accredited institutions and their programmes meet  academic quality standards and current international practices. ‘A Milestone’ Heather J. McGregor, Heriot-W ..read more

Scientists from 11 Arab countries will no longer have to pay to publish their research open access in the prestigious scientific journal “Nature” and its associated research journals, such as “Nature Chemistry” and “Nature Climate Change.” Springer Nature, the parent company of the “Nature” journals, announced this month that it has set up a fund to cover the cost of publishing research under the “gold open access” model for authors from more than 70 lower-income countries. Gold open access means articles are freely available online for anyone to read as soon as they are published. Authors typ ..read more

After the recent drop in the value of the Egyptian pound, Egyptian students in foreign universities, at home and abroad, are facing hard times in paying tuition fees, especially fees set in U.S. dollars and other foreign currencies. Hard currency has become scarce in Egypt, and conserving dollars has become a major challenge for students after the Central Bank of Egypt changed the monthly maximum spending limits for credit and debit cards, which students abroad used to use to pay tuition fees before. While the Central Bank said that education and medical treatment expenses are excluded from th ..read more

(The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Al-Fanar Media). Since the mid-1900s, technological inventions have drastically reshaped modern life. With the release of any technological advancement that shakes things up locally and globally, public reactions typically range between complete support of new phenomena and extreme opposition to the changes. So it is with artificial intelligence (AI) today. Clearly, AI has the power to reshape the future of education. The question is, how should educators respond? The case of artificial inte ..read more

Many universities host job fairs, or career expos, that give students and other job seekers a chance to meet potential employers. Al-Fanar Media has gathered some advice on how to make the most of these opportunities. We recommend a structured approach, following steps divided into three stages. 1. Before the Job Fair Get Prepared. Learn about the companies participating in the job fair before attending and familiarise yourself with their products and services. You can learn about the companies by visiting their websites and social media pages, and reading their customers’ comments and opinion ..read more

(The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Al-Fanar Media). The Covid-19 pandemic has been a learning experience in educational technology for me and many other instructors around the globe. My university and I personally have acquired brand-new hardware and software beneficial to students during periods of online learning. With the return to in-person instruction, however, I have also regained appreciation for old-fashioned classroom materials. In part because of more time spent indoors during pandemic-related lockdowns, nearsighted ..read more

Award-winning Egyptian writers and artists have been telling Al-Fanar how awards have boosted them personally and their craft generally. The Arab world has many awards celebrating achievement in many genres of creative work. These awards receive great attention, reflected in the high number of annual applicants and the controversy that sometimes accompanies the results. Amongst the most prestigious Arab awards for writers are the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), sometimes referred to as the “Arabic Booker”; the AlMultaqa Prize for Arabic Short Story; the Katara Prize for Arabic N ..read more

Saudi Arabia’s Subol platform, which wants to help students, graduates, and job seekers make better learning and career choices, recently invited users to explore more than 1,900 training opportunities on its site. The platform, which has been operating since 2019, is an initiative of the kingdom’s Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF). The 1,900 new opportunities recently announced on Subol are internships provided by employers in both the public and private sectors, said Noura Mohammed, the platform’s communication officer. Saudi Arabia’s Tamheer Training Scheme Helps Graduates Enter the ..read more