Abu-Ghazaleh: Education is the Only Tool for the Development of Nations

AMMAN – December 14, 2015 - Under the patronage of HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org), the conference of UN Global Compact – the fifth Principles for Reasonable Management Education (PRME) organized by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business (TAG-SB) was held at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh expressed his pride of the UN Global Compact as one of the great achievements he accomplished at the international as he was appointed the vice-chair of the UN Global Compact headed by Secretary-General of UN Kofi Annan and later Ban Ki-moon.

He stressed the importance of education as the only tool for the development of nations pointing out that refugees also need education. “In cooperation with the EU, TAG-Org will provide digital education to refugees where they are. Through that, they will be able to obtain recognized certificates from recognized universities." 

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh also recalled the hard days of being a refugee when he had to walk for hours to reach the school and complete his education. He also stated that he refuses the word "refugee" and suggests the word "vulnerable" instead as those who were forced to leave their countries are guests at the hosting countries". 

Furthermore, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh also referred to the importance of the trend toward the digital education, recalling the last Arab Summit that announced 2015-2025 the decade of the eradication of illiteracy. 

In addition, he called for the need to keep pace with the digital education describing the digital education revolution as "Tsunami" that we have to keep pace with, pointing out that the studies suggest that the future of the education is the digital education and beyond. 

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh clarified that TAGI-UNI was established to make the education available for every one as a human right. In addition, digital education overcomes the problems of visa travel, accommodation costs, etc. TAGI-UNI established relationships with well reputable universities in the world. It delivers the programs of those universities so that the student obtains a recognized certificate from those internationally accredited universities. 

In addition, he thanked the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research as it has started to accredit digital education provided by recognized and accredited universities. He called for that the universities must be without walls or campus so that they will not need a large area of real estate. 

 Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stated that both AROQA and ASREN, under the patronage of the League of Arab States, are working to improve the quality of education and scientific research in the universities. 

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stressed that "during the annual meeting of the TAG-Org organized in Bahrain, the attendees reached to a decision that it will be a digital one by the end of 2016. He also pointed out to that the secret of AGIP’s success is that it provides all its clients with all its services digitally.

In his turn, President of German Jordanian University Dr. Natheer Abu-Obeid said that in his participation in this conference, he represents a governmental educational institution which has established a unique successful partnership in Jordan with the private sector represented by TAG-SB.

He added: "the University that also represents a German Jordanian partnership includes an unprecedented demographic diversity of students of different nationalities in the world”. “This diversity drives the University to challenge those differences in a daily basis to access educational experiences that prioritize various types of global awareness and sharing.” he pointed out. 

Dean of the College D. Mamon Akroush stressed: "We, at TAG-SB, give much attention to this conference for two reasons. The first one is that its focal point is the sustainable education which is at the core of the development process of our country. The second one is that this conference gives us the chance to see the global ideas and choose the one that we can adopt in our community to develop our national institutions work.”

He also stated that "the open dialogue allows us to contribute to the major global issues and, therefore, establish our position between the nations of the world". “It is important to study the implications of the sustainable goals of the UN on the educational programs of business administration as the technological education became the decisive factor of our ability to respond to the economic dynamism that we live today.” he pointed out.  

He also referred to that this meeting would form an important part in our efforts that aim to develop the quality of education which is important for the expectations and the aspirations of the Global Compact goals toward sustainable development.

In his turn, Mustafa Nasereddin, chairman of Jordan Global Compact Network, said: "This alliance represents the larger framework of the social responsibility of businesses. It provides an opportunity for the businesses to learn more about social responsibility. It also provides a wide range of tools, mechanisms and local, regional and international networks.”

He also added that the UN global Alliance is considered as a strategic initiative for the businesses committed to reconcile their different strategies and operations with the universally agreed upon principles in the fields of human rights, labor, environment and in the fight against corruption. This largest initiative involves the participation of 8 thousands institutions and more than 4 thousands stakeholders.

In behalf of the UN Global Compact Office, Manager at PRME Secretariat – UN Global Compact Office Florencia Librizzi thanked TAG-SB, especially Chairman of the Organization Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, for hosting the conference.

She pointed out that the two past decades witnessed one of the most important developments – the growing consensus on that leader businessmen and private institutions play effective role in cooperating with civil and political society institutions to achieve the sustainable development for the community. 

She also stressed that "the UN Global Compact and other international, regional and local initiatives are the indisputable proof to that. More than 8000 companies around the world adopted the ten principles of the Global Compact and contributed in the quest to establish the values of human rights, good environmental standards and anti-corruption practices. 

During the two-day conference, the participants discussed the challenges and the opportunities that face the Middle East and contribute in achieving UN's sustainable development goals. The conference was attended by representatives of public and private sectors, public and private universities, private businesses and NGOs of different countries.