During the 1970’s and the second half of the 1980’s the systems of higher education in the Arab countries underwent several transformations which fundamentally changed it. These transformations are divided into three main categories: (1) quantitative changes; (2) quantitative changes that, in themselves, have qualitative implications; and (3) clear qualitative transformation (a-priori). In this brochure data pertaining to the first two categories is presented: the quantitative transformation and the quantitative-qualitative one.
The data in the brochure pertain to seven Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE (United Arab Emirates). Other Arab countries (Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar) have initially not been included in the research whether because the scarcity of reliable data about them or because their low degree of relevancy for this research.
Most of the data in the tables refers to a period of over twenty years – (1865-1987). During this period, especially during the years 1970-1985, changes, some of them extreme, have taken place in the higher education systems of the Arab countries.
The brochure does not include all the quantitative and quantitative-qualitative data needed to present the transformations that occurred in the higher education system in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Based on the data available to us it was possible, at this stage of the research, to build tables relating to the following parameters/subjects:
(1) Changes in the number of student studying (registered) in the institutes of higher learning in the years 1965-1987.
(2) Distribution of students by universities.
(3) Distribution of students by faculties (study areas)
(4) Distribution of students’ population in universities by gender.
(5) Number of faculty members and their distribution by universities.
(6) Changes in the size of the student population learning abroad and their distribution by the countries they study in.
The brochure has two appendices:
(a) List of faculties and departments of science and technology (engineering) in universities in Arab countries.
(b) List of academic staff in faculties/departments of engineering at the Jordan University (Al – Urdon) and the King Saud University (Al Malek Saud).
