Every Forum meeting will be planned around a theme of relevance to the latest global and regional trends in higher education, the 2015 Forum will be organized under the theme “Towards Transformative Higher Education in the MENA Region: The Role of Innovation in the 21st Century Digital and Knowledge based Society”. The theme was selected based on the essential role higher education plays in supporting the long term economic growth of nations through nurturing creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Throughout the different activities planned during the two days Forum, a number of important sub-topics and concepts linked to theme will be discussed, these include but is not limited to the importance of creating innovative climates, the use of technology as one of the fast growing innovation impacting higher education, achieving excellence through research and innovation, innovative ways of supporting learners in the 21st Century, etc.
Topical Guidelines
The Technical Committee of the 2nd MENA Higher Education Leadership Forum invites leaders of higher education to submit institutional best practices and case studies of relevance to the theme. The submitted best practice/ case study shall demonstrate a clear alignment with the main theme and sub-themes of the Forum and shall provide best practices and/or lessons learnt that other institutions of higher learning can adapt for their own institutions.
All submissions are to be made against one of the following streams:
Stream 1: Entrepreneurial Approaches to Leading and Managing Higher Education
Stream 2: Innovation in Quality and Continuous Improvement
Stream 3: Innovation in Student Support and Supporting Learning Experience
Stream 4: Innovation in the Digital Age and the Exploitation of Ubiquitous Technology
Stream 5: Innovation in Research and Knowledge Transfer
Submission & Presentation Guidelines
The focus of the submission should be on best practices and lessons learnt and shall be intended to be practical summaries to improve practice rather than formal, rigorous research papers. The following is a specific list of requirements for case study submissions:
1. Abstract and Full Submission Guidelines
• Best Practice abstracts consisting of 200 words shall be submitted to the Forum Technical Committee by no later than the 15th of January, 2015 for consideration and allocations within particular streams. The abstract shall be structured in a way that the purpose, findings and implications of the case study are well described.
• The actual best practice should be between 8 to 15 pages long excluding references and appendices, submitted in word format in a single-spaced, 12-point Arial style; title centered, in bold and all in capital letters; text and sub-titles aligned left and shall be sent by 25th of April, 2015.
• The title page should be separated and should include full name(s) of authors, affiliations, with city, country, phone, and email information.
• The case study itself shall provide:
o a background of the institution
o The context the best practice tends to addresses; in other words the problem that prompted the initiative or the reason why the initiative was undertaken with possible examples illustrated
o The goals and outcomes intended to be achieved by the institutions
o The actual implementation strategy
o the results and outcome of the implementation strategy
o reflection on lesson learnt on the topic (the last page shall include a list of bulleted lessons learnt). This could also include recommendations (positive or negative) to other learning institutions wishing to implement a similar practice.
• References if used must be in Harvard style and carefully checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency.
• Please use up to 10 key words that describe the case study for web searches in your manuscript.
• Figures and tables should appear within the text of the case study and are numbered consecutively. The figure or table number and description should appear left-justified in 10-point size at the top. Legends should be short and define any acronyms, abbreviations or symbols used.
2. Best Practice Presentation Guidelines
• Presentations of best practice during the Forum are to be done using power point slides or poster presentation as deemed relevant.
• Every case study presentation is allocated 20 minutes followed by 5 minutes for Q&As
• All presentations for best practices submissions must be sent to the Forum Organizers by no later than the 1st of November, 2015.
If you are using poster presentation:
• Please communicate this at the time of submission of the case study. The poster should not be larger than 1.0 meter in width and 1.4m in height. A freestanding bulletin board will be available in the conference session room for the mounting of the poster. Use softer colors. Posters should be readable from a distance of approximately 20 feet.
• Poster must clearly highlight the one essential theme that is put across to the audience.