Public and private post-secondary education in Arab countries

A critical view of the key issues and a proposed planning framework

Abstract

The entry of the world into the third millennium coincides with the emergence of the concept of globalization, which was facilitated by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of the United States as a unipolar power on the political, military, and economic levels.

The impact of globalization is manifested economically in the emergence of economic blocs and multinational corporations, and culturally in the widespread dissemination of the Western, particularly American, lifestyle and civilization at the expense of the cultural identities of peoples.

Faced with these challenges posed by globalization, countries should not flee from it or isolate themselves, but rather absorb it, invest in its positives, and avoid its negatives. Educational institutions, especially higher education institutions, constitute the basic lines of defense for protecting the civilizational identity of peoples.

To achieve this, higher education institutions must adopt the concept of "education for local and global citizenship", with the aim of preparing the productive citizen capable of participating in building his country and interacting with other civilizations. This requires revisiting the reality of higher education institutions to develop and improve them in a way that enables them to respond to the challenges of globalization.