Page 62 - EW January 2025

International News

Number of and higher educational qualifications than ever before.
Country/ institutions Demographic change offers some explanation. New im-
territory in ranking Top institution Rank migrants often struggle with a new language. The native-
Iraq 45 University of Baghdad 20 born have ageing brains. But even after adjusting for this,
Egypt 42 Cairo University 8
Algeria 37 Université Djillali Liabès de Sidi 81-90 trends remain gloomy, especially in literacy. Some specu-
Bel-Abbès late that Netflix, video games and social media are sapping
Saudi Arabia 34 King Abdullah University of Science 1
and Technology (KAUST) acuity. It is just as likely that education and training systems
Jordan 19 The University of Jordan 9 have misfired.
Morocco 14 Mohammed VI Polytechnic University =38 These disappointing results deserve more attention
United Arab Emirates 12 Khalifa University 6
Tunisia 10 University of Tunis El Manar 36 than they are likely to get. Basic numeracy and literacy are
Kuwait 5 American University of the =38 oddly unfashionable causes — especially when adults lack
Middle East
Lebanon 5 Lebanese American University 12 them. Students of education prefer to debate how to teach
Oman 4 Sultan Qaboos University 15 fashionable “soft skills”. Hype around generative artificial
Palestine 4 An-Najah National University 23 intelligence does not help: harping on about the importance
Bahrain 2 Ahlia University =17 of time-tables seems even more fuddy-duddy when talking
Libya 2 University of Tripoli 181-200 robots promise to do all the hard work.
Syria 2 Damascus University 161-180
Qatar 1 Qatar University 4 In too many places, a mania for universities has sapped
funding and focus from all the other kinds of lessons that
THE’s main analysis. As a result, the Gulf no longer has a people aged 18 and above could be offered. Degrees are be-
monopoly in that elite group at the summit. coming less meaningful: OECD has found that even some
Meanwhile, Iraq is now the most-represented country in university graduates post numeracy and literacy scores
the list, which reflects the research, teaching, internation- that might embarrass a child. Meanwhile, oldies who want
alisation and societal impact of more than 230 universities to return to class without embarking on long, expensive
across 16 countries. One of those nations, Syria, features for university courses often find good alternatives are lacking.
the first time, while Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon and Accelerating efforts to fix all these problems seems like a
Bahrain all have new national number ones. bright idea.
About one-sixth of places in the table are claimed by uni-
versities that are newly ranked when compared with last INDIA
year. The five highest-ranked newcomers are from Bahrain, US universities reluctant
Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Despite the increasing diversity in the ranking, there is US UNIVERSITIES MAY BE MORE CAUTIOUS
no denying Saudi Arabia’s grip is at the very top of the table about establishing branch campuses in India than
— at least for now. their British and Australian counterparts. A del-
egation from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) met with
THE WORLD Indian education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in No-
Are people becoming more stupid? vember to talk about academic and research collaboration
opportunities, including setting up a campus.
OES IT OFTEN FEEL AS IF THE WORLD IS get- In a statement, the Indian ministry of education said
ting stupider? Data released on December 10 by the delegation “actively discussed establishing an offshore
Dthe OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, suggests JHU campus in India”. An unnamed senior official told The
this may not be all in your head. Roughly every ten years, Times of India: “Given the keen interest expressed by (the)
the organisation asks adults in dozens of places to write high-level delegation during the meeting, (the) government
numeracy and literacy tests. The questions it poses are not is hopeful of a positive outcome very soon.”
abstract brainteasers, spelling tests or mental arithmetic. JHU, a private university, already has offshore campuses
They aim to mimic problems people aged 16-65 face in daily in Italy and China, as well as the Gupta-Klinsky India In-
life, whether they are working in a factory or an office, or stitute at its home campus. But a spokesman told Times
simply trying to make sense of the news. Higher Education that the institution had no plans for a
The latest tests were carried out in 31 rich countries, and physical presence in India at the moment.
their findings are unnerving. They suggest that a fifth of In November 2023, India released guidelines setting out
adults do no better in maths and reading than might be how foreign institutions can establish branch campuses in
expected of a primary-school child. The direction of travel is the country. Overseas universities had been invited to open
even less encouraging. In maths, average scores have risen campuses in Gift City, a special economic zone in Gujarat.
in a few places over the past ten years, but fallen in almost Since then, two Australian institutions have moved into Gift
as many. In literacy, a lot more countries have seen scores City, with British universities expected to follow. Earlier
decline than advance, despite the fact that adults hold more this year, the University of Southampton also announced

62 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2025