Libyan universities have gained more autonomy and this is something that deserves our attention and support. Universities play an important role in the construction of a society. This is the reason why we have to make an additional effort to exchange with Libyan universities on shared topics like mobility and cooperation. We need to support the growth of the Libyan university system notably in terms of research and mobility.
This is what Mr. Andrea Cozzolino – President of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries, has expressed on June 24, 2020 at the occasion of the Conference Libya Restart: a journey analysis. Paving the way for cooperation and innovation in North Africa
The Libya Restart Conference was organised by UNIMED with the support of the EU Delegation in Libya, and in collaboration with the Libyan Education Ministry, the Libyan National Erasmus Office Coordinator within the 5th edition of the UNIMED Week held last June 15- 26, 2020. The aim of the online event was to present the main findings and the recommendations developed by UNIMED in the framework of the analysis conducted on the Libyan Higher Education system, resulting in the publication of the Libya Restart Report.
The Conference focused on several aspects related to the core features of the Libyan HE system: governance and autonomy, quality assurance, international cooperation, the role of universities in the society, employability and the relation with the private sector, research priorities and digitalization. The UNIMED research team has presented the Recommendations and welcomed the feedback from the audience.
Participants in the event were first and foremost Libyan Universities, the Minister of Education of Libya, and the National Centre for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Educational and Training Institutes, but also a wide range of international stakeholders, including European Ministries of Foreign Offices and Embassies, international organizations and several Mediterranean Universities.
Libyan Universities played a crucial role, even in promoting the event and guaranteeing a wide and active participation. The importance of this work and conference has been also clearly underlined by the strong dissemination of the event on Libyan Universities websites and Facebook pages. University of Tripoli, Sabratha, Sebha, Zawia, El Merghib and LIMU (just to mention some examples) widely promoted their participation as well as the national center for the Quality control.
Contributions were also shared by high stake representatives, such as Mr. Alan Bugeja, the European Union Ambassador to Libya and, Mr. Andrea Cozzolino, the President of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries with a wide participation (as attendees) of international stakeholders such as IOM, British Council, Expertise France as well as the Embassy of France in Libya. The Libyan Ministry of Education presence was guaranteed by Mr. Taher ben Taher who expressed full support towards report recommendations and explained the ongoing reform process of Libyan Higher Education system. An active and crucial participation was also guaranteed by European Commission representatives such as Mr. German Bernal Rios from Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC) and Mr. Clivio Casali from EACEA.
The Coordinator of the National Erasmus Office, Mr Alì Bakeer, as a closing note of the work done and presented, highlighted the importance for Libya now of moving towards an operational plan for the country.
“Recommendations of the Libya Restart Report shall act as guidelines and food for thoughts”.
The Libya Restart Report has been the object of a validation process together with the Libyan Partners, Universities and Institutions in order to promote concrete partnerships and actions, based on both the needs set out in the Libya Restart Report and the results of the online discussion.
The full Libya Restart Report and all the additional resources are available here. You can watch the online meeting recording here.
Next Steps
To start defining tangible follow up and imagine, in the forthcoming months, concrete activities, we want to invite attendees, participants and interested people to fill in the following survey: https://forms.gle/tGmTnjMfgF7A37oh8
For further information do not hesitate to contact UNIMED Team at unimed@uni-med.net