1st Annual Quality Assurance International NCATE Advisory Panel
at Zayed University
For the MENA region's diverse schools
Newspaper Articles
Al Bayan Al Khaleej Al Ittihad
A central hub of quality assurance in educator preparation for the application of the accreditation standards in the MENA region, Zayed University has welcomed in its Dubai campus the 1st Annual Quality Assurance International Panel for Educator preparation organized by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) with the participation of eminent educators from the GCC countries.
Through regional collaboration, the Advisory Panel has discussed and indentified ways to build capacity and develop an infrastructure to ultimately create a continuum of Quality Assurance through the MENA Institutions of Higher Education.
Dr. Jim Cibulka, NCATE President said that the accreditation process is designed to help educators attain excellence programs. The program, Dr. Cibulka added, focuses on continuous improvement strategies to assist institutions in preparing educators to help increase all dimensions of learning.
According to the World Bank in its 2009 Quick Notes Series, the Arab World has halved the literacy gap by almost 50%. However, educational quality assurance, accountability, national standards, teacher licensing and student centered teaching/learning remain below or are inexistent between and among other nations of comparable economic development. The World Bank has further noted that better quality of education will require incentive mechanisms such as national standards, certification/licensing and professional development.
Dr. Boyce Williams, NCATE Vice-President, International /Mena Relations reiterated that the two-day Panel has attracted many of the educators and specialized people from the UAE and the GCC countries and that various topics were discussed on developing professional performance of educators in the MENA region. The Panel comes in the frame of the Collaborative to raise awareness around accreditation as a mechanism quality assurance in educator preparation.