The Shoura Council is preparing to approve the creation of a National Commission for Academic Assessment and Accreditation with the aim of upgrading the standard of government and private higher education. The establishment of the commission will help guarantee an acceptable standard for academic performance in education institutions and help them keep pace with scientific development. The legislation setting up the commission, which comprises 18 articles, states that it will be directly linked to the Prime Minister and will be independent financially and administratively. According to Article 4, the functions of the commission will be to lay down the principles and conditions for academic accreditation; to formulate the conditions that guarantee the quality of education according to international standards; and to establish the principles and criteria related to practicing academic work in areas, such as, teaching, training and scientific research. The commission will also be tasked with carrying out periodic institutional accreditation of all existing post-secondary education institutions; supervising the institutional accreditation of universities and colleges; accrediting the bachelors, higher diploma, masters and doctorate degree academic and training programs or their equivalent; carrying out a periodic review of the requirements for these degrees in all government and private post-secondary institutions; and accrediting the specialist academic and training programs in all government and private post-secondary institutions, such as, the programs for intermediate colleges, colleges of technology and government and private scientific diploma institutions. The Board of Directors of the commission will include the chairman, deputy chairman, undersecretary for education affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education, Secretary General of the Supreme Education Council, six members of the teaching staff from different specializations with the rank of at least associate professor from government universities, three others from private universities and colleges and three from the private sector with academic experience. The functions of the commission's council include laying down the strategies of academic accreditation, amending the administrative structure, approving the financial investment policy and budget, accepting donations, approving the subscription fee for education institutions and accreditation for government and private higher education institutions. The commission's revenues will come from the state budget allocations, membership fees from education institutions, donations and returns from investing the commission's finances and from publishing and research.
