Barcelona: Qatar participated in the 3rd World Higher Education Conference (WHEC2022) in Barcelona, Spain, with a delegation that includes representatives from the Higher Education Affairs Sector at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, Qatar University and Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
The conference focused on defining and preparing a roadmap for a new era of higher education by 2030 through several topics paying special attention to the global disruption created by the COVID-19 on higher education. Qatar Foundation presented a worksheet on the experience of Qatar during the pandemic. It also touched on the higher education and sustainable development goals, inclusion in higher education, equality among all groups in eligibility to education, programme quality and the importance of providing quality academic programmes that are capable of refining cognitive skills and attract secondary school students.
The topics discussed included academic movement and moving between higher education institutions; good management; financing higher education and investing in it; collecting data and information for higher education sector and its role in achieving sustainable development, decision-making and quality improvement; in addition to the topic of the future of higher education and strengthening international cooperation in this field.
Experiences and ideas were exchanged between participants from universities, governments, multilateral agencies, private sector and civil society, with the aim of drawing a common and global road map for the higher education sector for the next decade.
During the conference, Unesco urged member states to ratify the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education, as the first United Nations treaty that would enhance cooperation between universities and advance cross-border academic research. Qatar is one of the first countries that ratified this convention.
