IACQA 2012 - The International Arab Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education (IACQA'2012)

Higher education in the Arab world is currently facing serious challenges with reference to globalization and the educational open door policy. Higher education is a cornerstone in the promotion and development of nations. Thus, the quality of performance of higher education determines the future and status of the Arab world in the academic map of the world. This, in turn, entails that the Arab community should keen on the promotion and development of higher education via its concerned institutions, so as to apply the concepts of total quality management in order to ensure the good quality of academic/scientific research and academic products in general. Hence, the idea of establishing a referred international Arab conference on quality assurance in higher education has originated. The conference is to be annually held in an Arab university, where Arab and foreign researchers convene to discuss the axis of this important field that has become a priority in the light of globalization in a world that has turned into a global village. Indeed. It has become inevitable to give higher education its due attention in our educational institutions.

The significance of the conference springs from our firm belief that our Arab societies' future is shaped in our cultural castles represented by the higher education institutions. This definitely means that great efforts are needed to develop the quality of higher education as well as enhance the ability of our universities to acquire the modern properties of innovation and creativity, which have become a requirement of this new age of information and globalization. The conference aims at crystallizing an integrated Arab understanding of the quality of university performance as well as shedding light on the mechanics to develop it. It is also concerned with raising the accreditation requirements for our Arab universities; confronting the challenges of implementing the Total Quality Management (TQM) conceptions at these universities; and making use of both Arab and foreign experiences in our educational institutions. The languages of the conference will be both English and Arabic.

The International Arab Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education (IACQA'2012) is a forum for scientists, researchers, and experts to present their latest research, results, ideas, developments, and applications in all areas of quality assurance in higher education. IACQA'2012 will include presentations to contributed papers and state-of-the-art lectures by invited keynote speakers. Tutorials on current issues and panel sessions on the new trends related to quality assurance in higher education will be organized. This conference is considered the official scientific conference for the Association of Arab Universities in the field of quality assurance in higher education.