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Mohsen Elmahdy Said has been a Professor of Applied
Mechanics at the Mechanical Design & Production
Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University
since 1989, and has served as the Executive Director
and Chairman of the Board of the Projects Management
Unit at the Ministry of Higher Education since
2003. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical
Engineering from Imperial College of Science &
Technology, London University in 1976 and his
B.Sc. Degree from Cairo University in 1969. He
has also been affiliated with Imperial College
in London and with the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) pursuing research in his areas
of engineering specialization. His research interests
over the past fifteen years have focused on higher
education reform, with particular emphasis on
quality assurance and accreditation-related issues.
For more than fifteen years, Dr. Said has held
a variety of key positions on the national, regional,
and international levels, including Chairman of
the sub-committees that developed policy papers
on "TQM and Accreditation Systems" and
on "Private Education in Egypt, member of
the International Commission of the Council for
Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and a member
of the UNESCO Expert Group to develop the guidelines
for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education,
and those for Quality Assurance, Accreditation,
and Recognition of Qualifications. As the Director
of the Projects Implementation Unit of the Ministry
of Higher Education, Dr. Said successfully implemented
a number of projects in the reform of higher education
funded by the World Bank, the Arab Gulf Fund and
the Ford Foundation.
Dr. Said has served on the boards of many research
centers and national committees, including Co-Secretary
to the National Committee responsible for developing
Egypt's Higher Education Reform Strategy in 2000,
and member of the Board of Trustees and University
Board, Misr International University (MIU) - one
of the first four newly established private universities
in Egypt.
Among his numerous awards is the National Decoration
"Medal of the Republic" for distinctive
efforts made in the field of design and local
manufacturing of investment equipment for the
Egyptian Sugar Industry. As an Olympic Handball
player, and later Director of the Handball team,
he was awarded the National Egyptian Sports Medal
in 1979.
Selected Publications
- "TQM and Accreditation Systems".
A Policy Paper prepared in Arabic by the Education
Committee - the National Democratic Party (NDP)
for presentation at the NDP National Conference,
and for publication in Arabic and English at
their website: www.ndp.org.eg,
September 2005.
- "Private Education in Egypt." Policy
Paper prepared in Arabic by the Education Committee
- the National Democratic Party (NDP) for presentation
at the NDP National Conference, and for publication
in Arabic and English at their website: www.ndp.org.eg,
September 2005.
- "The Quality Assurance and Accreditation
Handbook for Higher Education in Egypt".
Published online at www.heep.edu.eg,
2004.
- "The Egyptian Model for Quality Assurance
and Accreditation in Education." Published
in Arabic by the Lebanese Association for Educational
Studies (LAES), Beirut 2004.
- "Higher Education in Egypt." International
Reference Handbook for Higher Education in African
Countries. Damtew Teferra and Philip G.
Altbach, eds. Indiana University Press, Bloomington,
Indiana, 2003.
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| Reform of Higher Education in Egypt
As the Executive Director and Chairman of the
Projects Management Unit (PMU) at the Ministry
of Higher Education (MOHE) responsible for the
overall reform activities in Egypt, all the areas
listed under the NCS program are of interest and
concern to the Egyptian context. However, to focus
my personal research activities, I decided to
focus my efforts towards issues related to two
or three areas listed under the NCS program, namely:
Elite and mass-access and equity
The globalization of higher education choice of
institutional models
Under the above mentioned titles I would like
to focus on QAA related issues, particularly those
related to the establishment of internal QA systems
within H.E. Institutions, and to learn from the
diverse models followed and implemented in American
Universities. Innovations in governance and management
of universities are also among the areas where
I can acquire a great deal of knowledge, and that
is directly related to QAA issues. Preparation
of institutions for the internal review and accreditation
process, and the peer review process itself are
among the areas that I would like to explore further.
This can be re-enforced by taking part in actual
site visit(s), which can be organized with the
assistance of Dr. Judith Eaton from CHEA and/or
Dr. Barbara Brittingham from the New England Association.
Cross-Boarder higher education, recognition of
qualifications and equivalency of degrees are
among the issues that I would like to consider
in my research activities.
I also need to gain detailed information and
logistics related to the establishment of accrediting
bodies in the USA, which would be helpful during
the course of establishing the Egyptian the NQAAA,
expected to start before the end of 2005.
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