Higher Education International Conference

The contemporary university is the most important higher education institution in the complex process of knowledge creation and distribution, serving as home not only to most of the basic sciences, but also to the complex system of journals, books, and databases that communicate knowledge worldwide.

Currently, higher education is in the grip of transforming change. Part of this change flows from the demands of political leaders for access for a greater share of the population to meet the needs of the New Economy; part from the growing concern that the skills and attitudes young people bring to their roles as workers and citizens are inadequate; and the last part flows from the growing impact of external forces such as information technology and globalization.

HEIC 2009 - held under the Auspices of her Excellency Minister of Education & Higher Education Mrs. Bahia Hariri - is concerned with the patterns of higher education development evident in the last ten year period throughout the world, analyzing some of the reasons of these trends and pointing to likely directions for universities in the coming decades. Contemporary challenges and issues such as academic freedom and accountability, innovation and creativity in higher education, globalization of colleges and universities, higher education and industry partnerships, and the implications of the massive expansion of universities - including the new for-profit and virtual institutions- are of primary concern.