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Key forum to focus on education on Jan. 24

DUBAI — A 'Collaborative Forum — Education in Australia and the Middle East', featuring educational experts and institutions from Australia as well as involvement from governments across the Middle East will be held in Dubai next month, followed by a similar forum in Egypt, announced Noel Campbell Australian Ambassador to the UAE.

“The forum series supported by Dubai Knowledge Village in the UAE will commence at Knowledge Village on January 24, 2005 with a gala dinner, followed by seminars and workshops on January 25 and 26. It will then move to Cairo on January 29 and 30, 2005,” he said.

Addressing a Press conference at the Knowledge Village in Dubai, Campbell said that these fora are a part of the Australian government's focus on globalisation of education and collaboration with other governments and an indication of a strong relationship between Australia and the UAE in the field of education. This relationship includes over 500 Emirati students currently studying in Australia and also the presence of two Australian universities in the UAE, he said.

He also stated that there is a large number of Australian graduates working in various professions in the UAE, especially Australian educated professionals working in the area of education.

“Australian education enjoys an excellent international reputation recently confirmed by the Times Higher Education Supplement which ranked 14 Australian universities in the world's top 200, only three countries rated more institutions than Australia. Likewise, the UAE is recognised as a rapidly developing international education hub, and this forum aims to provide a platform for Australian experts and education leaders to engage with their peers from the UAE and beyond,” Campbell said.

Lea Sublett, Consul Education, Science and Training, Australian Consulate in Dubai, explained: “This is the first collaborative education forum of its kind to be conducted by the Australian government outside of Australia. Our aim is to learn from our colleagues across the Middle East and to also inform our colleagues about the capabilities and structure of the Australian education system.”

This forum will discuss issues relating to the framework and effectiveness of education such as quality assurance, qualifications recognition, curriculum development, research, linking school, vocational and higher education, she said, adding it also aims at introducing Australian institutions to their peers from the region and increase cooperation between Australia and the UAE.

Each forum will involve two days of seminars and workshops featuring presentations from Australian and invited regional experts and participation by a delegation of Australian institutions.

Sublett pointed out that excellence in research, teaching English as a foreign language, and specific areas of study such as health, engineering, environment, tourism and business are among the other topics to be discussed at the forum.

Also addressing the conference was Allan Egbert, Manager Middle East, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Limited, who briefed on the various national assessment programmes in the field of education for various countries in Asia Pacific and the Gulf region funded by the World bank.

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