1.Introduction -- 2. Quality Assurance and Relevance in Academia: A Review -- 3.Indicators of Institutional and Program Ranking of Universities in the Arab World -- 4. Reform of Higher Education in the Arab World. John Waterbury -- 5.Is there More to Quality Assurance than Quality? -- 6. Transnational Educational Networks of Excellence based on Quality, Accreditation, and Recognition Management -- 7. Quality Assurance in the Arab Region in the Era of Customization: Where do we Stand in terms of Relevance? -- 8. The Importance of Safeguarding Functional Independence in External Quality-Assurance Decision-Making Activities -- 9. Graduate Education for the 21st Century University: Ensuring Quality through Relevance -- 10. Industry-driven Research in the Arab World: A Way Forward -- 11. Quality Assurance for Sustainable Development: Toward the Revision of the Arab Convention on Recognition of HED Diplomas and Certificates -- 12. The Diploma Supplement as a Tool for Quality Assurance and Relevance -- 13. Digital Transformation and Quality, Efficiency, and Flexibility in Arab Universities -- 14. On the Quality Assurance of Faculty Members -- 15. Quality Assurance for Competence-Based Higher Education: Context of Jordan -- 16. Bibliometric Analysis of Research Output in the Faculty of Medicine at the American University of Beirut: Correlation with Medical Schools in the USA -- 17. Introducing Quality Assurance in Algerian Higher Education: the Case of the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene -- 18. Quality Assurance Agencies in the Maghreb Countries: Challenges and Opportunities -- 19. Unified National Medical Assessment: An Approach towards Meeting the Needs of Population during Syrian Crisis. - 20. Higher Education Relevance in Post-War Syria. .

This book focuses on two crucial issues that need to be addressed as a matter of urgency by universities in the Arab region, namely (a) conducting independent assessments of the quality of their teaching, research, administration, governance, and planning; and (b) determining the relevance of their teaching, research, and societal impacts. Although well-established around the world in manufacturing industries and private-sector service industries, including the research and commercialisation arms of the major universities and research institutes, it is only in recent years that quality-assurance (QA) assessments have started to be applied to most aspects education. Several Arab universities are adopting various forms of QA but some variants are little more than bureaucratic “box-ticking” exercises with minimal commitment by staff to the ultimate aim of continuing self-improvement. This book will be of interest to senior management at faculty and departmental level and above in all Arab universities specifically, and more generally in Islamic institutions of higher education. Senior management in other universities, especially in the developing world will benefit from its analyses and recommendations.