News of the Arab Region:
Rankings Show Egyptian Universities’ International Strength, Officials Say
Higher education officials in Egypt have praised the strong showing of Egyptian universities in the latest edition of the Webometrics Global Web Rankings for Universities, which included 83 Egyptian universities among the more than 5,500 institutions it evaluated worldwide on measures of global visibility, openness, and research excellence.
Ten of the Egyptian institutions were among in the list’s top 1,000. (To read more about how Egyptian and other Arab universities fared in the Webometrics ranking, click here.) Egyptian universities also featured prominently in Times Higher Education’s recently released World University Rankings by Subject 2026, where Egypt was the first- or second-most-represented Arab country in nearly all of that listing’s 11 subject areas.
In a statement, Ayman Ashour, Egypt’s minister of higher education and scientific research, said Egyptian universities’ progress in major world rankings demonstrated their ability to compete and excel both regionally and internationally. Adel Abdel Ghaffar, the ministry’s official spokesperson, said the rankings’ results contributed to enhancing the reputation of Egyptian higher education internationally and opening wider horizons for graduates in the global job market.
Bethlehem U. Study Examines Service Learning during Wartime
A peer-reviewed study by two scholars at Palestine’s Bethlehem University examines how service-learning functions in higher education during times of war. The authors, Layth R. Awwad and Ruba Ayyad, faculty members in the English Department, found that service learning extends beyond its educational function to promote resilience, civic engagement, and spirituality among students under exceptional conditions, the university said in a news release.
The authors adopted a qualitative case-study approach based on the experiences of 55 students enrolled in two service-learning courses during the 2023–2024 academic year. Their paper was published in RIDAS, the Ibero-American Journal of Service Learning, a peer-reviewed publication of CLAYSS, the Latin American Center for Service-Learning, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Damascus U. Hosts Lecture on International Scientific Publishing
Abdul-Karim Jaafar, an editor and reviewer for several international scientific journals indexed in Scopus, recently spoke at Damascus University in a lecture that aimed to strengthen the university’s culture of rigorous scientific research and help researchers get published in top academic journals.
In a post on Facebook, the university said Jaafar gave faculty members, graduate students, and researchers an overview of the fundamentals of international scientific publishing, including criteria for selecting suitable journals for publication, tips on how to structure a research paper, and the publication requirements adopted by leading international publishing houses.
A lecture at Damascus University on international scientific publishing (University).
Najran U. Opens Online Student Counselling Platform
Saudi Arabia’s Najran University has opened an online student counselling service as part of its educational and guidance initiatives.
In a news release from the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the university said the service offered consultations in educational, psychological, health, technical, and legal areas, and guidance related to examinations and assessments. The service has dedicated tracks to support various groups, including graduate students, students with disabilities, international students, and gifted students.
The university stressed that the services are delivered with strict confidentiality through the Enjaz platform.
Registration Opens for Masterclasses ahead of Sharjah Education Summit
Sharjah Education Academy, in collaboration with the Sharjah Private Education Authority, has opened registration for the pre-conference masterclasses of the 5th Sharjah International Summit on Improvement in Education. The masterclasses will take place on 13 February 2026, ahead of the main summit scheduled for 14–15 February.
In a news release, the academy said the sessions were designed for teachers, school leaders, policymakers, and researchers, and would address themes such as human-centred leadership, authentic assessment, cooperative learning, artificial intelligence in education, large-scale international assessments, and system-level transformation in early childhood education.
Pauline Taylor Guy, chancellor of Sharjah Education Academy, said the classes aimed to connect global expertise with the local context of education in the United Arab Emirates. “The pre-conference is a core component of the summit’s structure and vision, aimed at empowering teachers and education leaders to manage change with awareness and confidence, within an education system that affirms the human being as the heart and focus of the learning process,” she said.
Events and Conferences:
3rd Global Labour Market Conference (GLMC), 26-27 January 2026, Riyadh. The third edition of this conference will focus on tackling emerging challenges through collaboration, innovation, and policy leadership. Discussion topics include trade shifts and labour moves, the new skills order, aligning labor with human progress, crisis-proofing the workforce, and artificial intelligence: what we got right and what we didn’t. For registration details, click here.
UNIMED Week in Brussels, 27-29 January 2026. The 10th edition of UNIMED–Mediterranean Universities Union’s annual dialogue on relations between European institutions and the Mediterranean region is set for early next year. Discussion topics include deepening engagement with initiatives like Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe, and creating a more integrated higher education space through the new Pact for the Mediterranean. The agenda for the event is available here. For more information, please write to [email protected].
Egyptian Knowledge Bank Workshops. Free online workshops are now available for undergraduate students, researchers, and faculty members. View the schedule here.
Arabi Facts Hub Leads Region’s Battle against False Information
Arabi Facts Hub, an Egyptian organisation dedicated to countering false information in Arabic online, recognises the challenge that the fast flow information today presents to journalists, media students, and fact-checkers across the Arab region.
The hub is trying to tackle this problem through innovative approaches, combining the use of large language models with the region’s most comprehensive open-source fact-checking database. The database aggregates the work of leading independent fact-checking initiatives across the Arab world, forming a research alliance that journalists, researchers, and academics can use.
It has also been conducting training workshops in universities to help students and young journalists become professionally credible in this world of information chaos. Read more about the group’s activities here.
Opinion:
Human Truths in an Algorithmic Age: Why Journalism Must Remain Human-Centred
In recent years, conversations about the future of media have been dominated by talk about algorithms, platforms, artificial intelligence, and automation. Search is no longer just search. Social media is no longer social. Even journalism itself is increasingly framed as a “product” optimised for speed, scale, and engagement metrics. Yet amid all this technological acceleration, one fundamental question remains unresolved: What do people actually seek from the media? Mohammad El-Hawary, Al-Fanar Media’s executive director and editor-in-chief, reflects on the issue.
‘Experiences in Teaching Media Literacy’
This episode focuses on experiences of teaching media literacy to university and pre-university students in the Arab world. It looks in particular at Jordan’s efforts to provide youth with the skills they need to judge the accuracy of information and counter the widespread bias and misinformation online today. You can listen to all episodes in the series through Al-Fanar Media’s accounts on SoundCloud, Spotify, and YouTube.
Tips and Resources:
Digital Tools that Can Make Learning and Research Easier
Digital tools that can make learning and research easier come in many forms, from sophisticated chatbots and search engines that harness the power of artificial intelligence to traditional platforms and apps with functions that can be tailored to individual users’ needs. In this article, Al-Fanar Media looks at a variety of these tools and gets advice from several Arab academics and students about which tools they recommend and how they are using them.
Scholarships
Qalaa Holdings Foundation Master’s Degree Scholarships for Egyptian Students. This scholarship is for young Egyptian professionals who wish to pursue an on-campus master’s degree at any well-regarded university outside the country. All academic disciplines are eligible, except for medicine, pharmacy, and biosciences. The foundation offers full scholarships, which cover tuition and living expenses, and partial scholarships covering tuition alone. The programme is designed to support high-achieving young people who will contribute to Egypt’s long-term development needs.
Explore details of this award and other scholarships available to Arab students on Al-Fanar Media’s scholarship database.