Higher Education Governance Systems: Middle East

The higher education system in the Middle East is diverse. In fact, governance of higher education reflects the dominant political system, starting with strong economies and authoritarian regimes in Iran and Saudi Arabia, to ongoing conflict zones in Afghanistan and Palestine. While definitions of the Middle East vary, this entry uses a definition that includes countries in North Africa and Central Asia as well as Western Asia. The entry focuses primarily on higher education governance systems in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. The higher education sector in these six places, although still diverse, can reliably be classified as either highly centralized or semiautonomous and can be divided into public, private, or religious institutions.

This entry focuses on places where the population is predominantly ...