Russayani Ismail

Islamic republic of Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran is an important and interesting case study to understand in the context of higher education development in the MENA region. The Iranian higher education system can be considered as among the most developed in the region, especially in research and development, despite economic sanctions. With the lifting of the sanctions and having possessed rich economic resources as well as coupled by a relatively stable political situation, these have brighten the prospects for the development of the Iranian higher education. This chapter examines the challenges and prospects of higher education in Iran as well as from the politico-security, economic, social, legal, and educational perspectives as a means to develop holistic insights of higher education in a post-sanction Iran and the MENA region.

Republic of Tunisia

The Republic of Tunisia makes an interesting case study in the context of higher education development in the MENA region. This is in view of its strong tradition and culture of promoting education, and the accolade it receives for possessing among the most developed higher education systems in the region, despite its comparatively less affluent economic condition. This chapter examines the development of the national higher education agenda of Tunisia, in terms of the provision of international students, research, and training collaboration, as well as network expansion. It explores the challenges and prospects offered from the politico-security, economic, social, legal, and educational perspectives as a means to develop important insights that could assist in the making of strategic recommendations for would-be higher education providers and their higher education institutes, in the quest to extend their outreach to this post-conflict state in the MENA region.

State of Palestine

Despite being in a constant state of conflict and the manifold dangers posed by the Israeli occupation, the State of Palestine has a functional education system, which includes higher education. In fact, the higher education development in Palestine has progressed at a rapid pace over the last three decades, as it continues to succeed against the odds unbowed. This chapter examines the political, security and economic situation of Palestine, to provide a context to understanding the environment that shapes the Palestinian higher education landscape and system. This is followed by a scrutiny of the higher education sector, which includes an assessment of the set of conditions and challenges that are uniquely faced by the stakeholders of higher education in Palestine, and the potentials for future development and realisation of this highly passionate agenda of the Palestinian people.

The Implications of Graduate Labor Market Performance in Designing a Student Loan Scheme for Malaysia

This chapter examines graduate labor market performance and its implications in the design of a student loan scheme for higher education in Malaysia. The current mortgage-type loan scheme under the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (NHEFC) creates a major problem in terms of loan defaults which contribute to high implicit subsidies and concerns related to the sustainability of this scheme. With high unemployment among fresh graduates and where over-education is found to be prominent among employed graduates, it is likely that the current mortgage-type loan scheme creates a heavy burden on many graduates with relatively low incomes. The important concept relates to what is known as the ‘repayment burden’, the proportion of a debtor’s income that is required to meet repayment obligations. To understand the extent of repayment burdens, age-earnings profiles are estimated for Malaysia and it is found that the earning ability of graduates varies by level and field of study. The current mortgage-type student loans are shown to impose quite high repayment burdens, particularly for graduates in arts and social sciences, with the results helping us to understand the extent of loan defaults. Adjusting the data to include unemployed graduates, which results in a more informed repayment burden calculation, adds very considerably to our assessment of the average repayment difficulties. In assessing the efficacy of the current loan scheme, we compare the implicit subsidies under the current mortgage-type student loans with a proposed (hypothetical) income contingent loan (ICL).

Reflections and the Way Forward

This book presented case studies of six states from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The rich narrative in terms of their higher education as well as their political, security, socioeconomic and legal framework has illustrated many important themes and patterns in understanding these countries and the MENA region, as a whole. This concluding chapter identifies and summarises the common key themes that serve as both challenges and/or opportunities for the selected countries in promoting their respective and the region’s higher education development agenda. It also suggests the areas of (re)alignment required and proposes the way forward for the MENA region to fully realise its higher education potentials.

Assessing the impact of microcredit programs on participants’ quality of life: A theoretical framework

The important role of microcredit programs in contributing towards poverty alleviation among the poor is well acknowledged. However, in measuring the effectiveness of the loans offered to the poor, it is not sufficient to just focus on how it helps to reduce poverty level but further consideration should also be given to other terms of measurement of its efficacy; an example of such issues is participants’ quality of life. The quality of life should be valued based on a quality of an individual’s whole life which cannot be segmented and analysed separately. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to provide a rational discussion on the conceptualization of the microcredit participants’ quality of life and to contribute to the literatures in this area. This paper shows that a comprehensive measure of quality of life is needed in assessing the impact of microcredit programs.