The Pubic Conference of the Arab Universities Association held its 55th session in Tunisia hosted by the University of Sousse and the University of Monastir from 18 to 20 March. It was held in the presence of presidents of 250 universities from 22 Arab Countries, representatives of local and international organizations, the League of Arab States, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
This conference will build strong relations between Hadhramout University and other Arab universities, develop its future vision, and present its activities and scientific aspect.
This annual conference of the Arab Universities Association aimed at reviewing its achievements during the past year and discussing the future year’s plan. During this session, 16 universities will have membership in the union according to what was indicated by Prof. Amer Ezzat Salamah, General Secretary in his participation in a press seminar before the current session.
The Opening session started with the speeches of Prof. Lutfi Belqasim, Sousse University President, Prof. Alhadi Belhaj Saleh, Monastir University President, Prof. Sari Hamdan, Amman University President and the former chairperson of this session and prof. Amer Ezzat Salamah, General Secretary of the Association. In addition to the conference sponsor’s speech, Dr. Feraj Al-Ajami, the representative of the League of Arab Universities, Minister of Plenipotentiary, and Director of the Department of Education and Scientific Research. After that, Prof. Hadi Belhaj Saleh and Prof. Lutfi Belqasim chaired the conference.
The second session was held at Ibn El Jazzar Medical Faculty of Sousse. The representatives of the Arab and International organizations delivered a speech during the meeting as Prof. Mohamed Ould Amar, General Director of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, Prof. Ibrahim Ahmed El Dukhiri, General Director of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, Prof. Abdelmajid BenAmara, Secretary General of the Federation of Arab Scientific Research Councils, and Prof. Abdul Rahman Al Asmi, Director of the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States. In addition to Dr. Abdullah Dahlan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Business and Technology University, Dr. Adel Ibrahim Al-Hadithi, Secretary-General of the Federation of Arab Engineers, and Dr. Ayman Mukhtar Ghoneim, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab Federation for Digital Economy.
During the students’ participation, Prof. Amer Ezzat Salamah, Prof. Mohamed Loutfi, President of the British University in Egypt, Prof Luciano Saso from the Sapienza University of Rome, and Prof. David Locke, General Director of Magna Carta also delivered a speech.
Moreover, in the session at Ibn El Jazzar Medical Faculty of Sousse, the quorum was affirmed for the meeting as well as the agenda was approved. The President of the current session of the General Conference was selected and invited to chair the meeting. Moreover, they appoint the Vice-Chairmen of the session and the Rapporteur-General of the session, nominate the subcommittees, select their rapporteurs, and allocate the Conference’s items of agenda to the committees.
The work of the conference will continue tomorrow, Sunday 19/3, at the Faculty of Medicine, Habib Bourguiba, University of Monastir, in which the UNESCO Regional Office will organize a panel/dialogue to raise awareness of open science: a session on science in Arab countries and the Arab Organization for Research and Education Networks, and a plenary session for all members of the General Conference of the association to discuss Items referred to the General Conference, endorsement of recommendations and delivery of shields.
The signing ceremony will be organized to sign memorandums of understanding between a number of universities participating in the conference, and the participants will attend the International Student Day demonstration at the University of Monastir at the ancient Rabat Palace in Monastir. In addition to the evening that will be held tomorrow, on the sidelines of the conference, a lecture will be held by Prof. Isam Zabalawi, President of the Australian College of Kuwait, on digital transformation, while a special meeting for the members of the Board of Directors of the Arab-European Network for Training University Leaders.
