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This study investigates whether there are relationships between the characteristics of the boards of trustees of universities in the Arab region, higher education quality assurance and the output of scientific research.

The descriptive analytical approach was used in this study. The study was conducted on the universities of the Arab region that are included in the classification of the British Institution for the Arab Region: QS Arab Region University.

The findings show that there is an effect of the characteristics of the trustees combined in the universities of the Arab region on ensuring the quality of higher education, other than the output of scientific research. The findings also indicate when measuring the characteristics individually that the trustee system is not effective in the Arab region and it is only formal for nominal purposes.

Most universities in the Arab region do not disclose the data of boards of trustees, their roles, committees, rules of procedure and the nature of their work. A large number of universities also do not operate under the trustee system because the regulations and instructions do not allow this in the country.

This study seeks to improve practitioners knowledge, including boards of trustees, in ensuring the quality of higher education and the output of scientific research.

The research projected the governance model through the characteristics of the boards of directors of for-profit companies on the boards of trustees of universities in the Arab region. The study examines the nature of the characteristics of the boards of trustees that are compatible with its responsibilities, the most important of which is the supervision of the strategy to ensure the quality of higher education research.

This paper aims to examine the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, reflecting upon the nuclear challenge between Iran and Israel and Iran's expanding activities in the region.

To prove the central argument, the study uses a conceptual framework that centers on deterrence as the main approach used by states to consolidate their influence in the Middle East region.

Iran's nuclear progress and influence in the region has strengthened Israel’s security and fostered an unprecedented open rapprochement led by USA efforts with the Gulf regimes.

The paper draws particular attention to the Iran–Israel nuclear competency, and the Israeli preferred policy options regarding Iranian activities in the region amid turbulent Middle East. In addition, the paper offers insight to the regional dynamics that further consolidated Israel’s national security in the region while maintaining a status of Arab vulnerability and backwardness.

This study aims at evaluating the technical efficiency (TE) of healthcare systems in the Arab region and exploring the key factors that affect the efficiency performance.

The study applies a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to a sample of 20 Arab countries. In the first stage, a DEA model is used to calculate the TE scores of the examined healthcare systems in 2019 and 2010, following both the output and input orientations of efficiency. In the second stage, a censored Tobit model is estimated to investigate the determinants of healthcare efficiency.

DEA results of 2019 indicate that achievable efficiency gains of the Arab countries range from 0.4% to 16% under the output and input orientations, respectively. Six countries are efficient under both orientations. Although the average efficiency scores of the Arab countries have deteriorated between 2010 and 2019, Djibouti and Sudan had the greatest efficiency improvements between the two years. Bahrain, Mauritania, Morocco and Qatar proved to be efficient in 2010 and 2019 under the two orientations of efficiency and according to the two DEA specifications followed. The Tobit model reveals that corruption and government health expenditure tend to have an adverse impact on healthcare efficiency.

The author evaluates healthcare efficiency and healthcare's efficiency determinants in the Arab countries. Regardless Arab countries' diversity, these countries are facing common health challenges, including diminishing role of governments in healthcare financing; increased out-of-pocket healthcare spending; poor healthcare outputs and prevalence of health inequities resulting from weak governance institutions. Comparing the efficiency of healthcare systems between 2010 and 2019 gives insights on the potential impact of the Arab spring uprisings on healthcare efficiency. Moreover, examining the determinants of healthcare efficiency allows for better understanding of how to improve the efficiency of healthcare systems in the region.

The purpose of this paper is to outline how the EU figures out the importance of strengthening its relations with Egypt as one of the most strategic countries in the region to keep the union secured and stable. The paper also assesses to what extent the EU succeeds to promote democracy in Egypt.

The EU pursues its policy through a series of both bilateral and multilateral agreements with Egypt aiming at positioning their relations in a strategic context. The research adopted different approaches as descriptive and analytical ones.

Following the Arab uprisings, the EU was caught by surprise and announced a paradigm shift in its relations and introduced a set of policies to foster democracy promotion that witnessed some successes but with extremely modest results in some areas compared to the costs of the process. The EU succeeded in important reforms in trade liberalization while it did not bring clear changes in the political arena in Egypt.

The findings of this paper convey that the Arab uprisings were a wake-up call for the EU. It was the right time for the EU to conduct such a strategic and sincere reflection based on the role it wants to play in the changing region. In addition, findings prove that the EU’s response to revolutionary events has been weak and hesitant, and the EU has not an effective role in promoting democracy in Egypt.

This article focuses on regional-level cooperation in higher education by examining the functional, organizational and political approaches (FOPA) framework for higher education regionalization and using supra-national regional universities as established and successful examples of regional-level higher education cooperation among countries.

A conceptual framework is used to provide the structure for analyzing the key approaches to higher education regionalization, followed by an analysis of supra-national regional universities to demonstrate the application of the model.

The FOPA framework for higher education regionalization includes three approaches. The first is the functional approach, which includes both collaborative academic and research activities among higher education institutions as well strategies and policies to help align systems across a region. The second is the organizational approach, which focuses on networks, organizations, institutions and programs, which facilitate partnerships. The third is the political approach, which includes regional-level agreements, declarations and strategic plans to promote higher education collaboration. Key higher education activities for each approach are discussed in generic terms, with examples provided from major regions of the world.

The research was based on desk research only. No interviews were conducted.

A conceptual analysis and a model were provided for the concept of regionalization of higher education and for regional universities, which can help readers locate their interests and research in the regionalization of higher education. Examples of three different types of regional universities were provided to give concrete illustrations of a regional university.

One of the rationales driving regional universities is to address and increase a sense of regional identify and to meet the social, economic and educational needs of the specified region.

Regional universities, such as the University of West Indies, Arab Open University and the Pan-Africa University, are an understudied phenomenon. Using them as innovative and sustainable examples of higher education regional cooperation and the FOPA model, this study illustrates how single-campus, multiple-campus and virtual regional universities are functioning to meet the diversified needs and priorities across a region through cooperation among countries.

Non-politicized bureaucracy plays a fundamental role in the survival of states during times of transition and drastic change. Moreover, non-politicized bureaucracy protects state institutions from failing. In fact, state survival bureaucracy (SSB), as an alternative to Deep State, obtains all mechanisms for the sustainability of the state, both its entity and identity. In case of resistance to the elected officials and executives’ abrupt decisions, professionals and experts came up with Deep State to reflect the elements of rejection.

The paper uses both system and function approaches in analyzing the role of bureaucracy in states going through transition. It also draws comparisons from the harsh experiences in the Arab region after Arab revolutions where most of the states collapsed while Tunisia and Egypt survived. The authors will use the available literature in reviewing different arguments regarding the role of bureaucracy in addition to the own observations as scholars who were engaged in the political process in Egypt for sometimes and during the drastic changes since January 25, 2011 and the knowledge about political process in Tunisia and other Arab states.

In the study of the collapse of a number of Arab states and the survival of Tunisia and Egypt, it was found out that it is SSB which holds state together in cases of drastic changes or tangible threats. SSB includes bureaucrats and policy implementing agencies that are committed to both entity and identity of the state. The role of SSB emerges clearly in a state of utmost survival crisis of the state. SSB does inherently obtain self-correcting mechanisms that help states face, experience drastic change and cope with it.

Non-politicized bureaucracy plays a fundamental role in the survival of states during times of transition and drastic change. Moreover, non-politicized bureaucracy protects state institutions from failing. In fact, SSB as an alternative to Deep State, as defined in this paper, obtains all mechanisms for the sustainability of the state, both its entity and identity. The analysis will show how SSB is a constructive mechanism for the survival of the state when its entity and identity as well as well-established national interests are under tangible threats.

The world is confronted by various current development challenges, including global health security and climate change. The rapid growth of these challenges warned all nations regardless of their development or geographical position. As an emerging international power, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was among these nations and is viewed as a proactive key actor.

This review was conducted as a thematic synthesis from 27 studies, reports and publications along with authors' insights. Using MS Word and Excel programs, three stages of data exploration, extraction and synthesis and analysis were applied. Data gathering, analysis and thematization and compilation.

The UAE is giving significant attention to global health and climate change. Over the past 20 years, multipolicies, strategies and bodies were developed to lead the national, regional and global SDGs. Global health and climate change became the most two notable priorities on the government agenda and its strategic thinking is that both priorities can no longer be overlooked. Nationally, the UAE has made significant economic, scientific, social and health growth. Building a resilient and world-class healthcare system was one of six national priorities of the achieved UAE National Agenda 2021. Globally, UAE has proved its global health leadership by ensuring lasting and collective multilateral partnerships and collaborations that led to remarkable achievements in global health and climate change. Examples on the global scale: partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to target billions of people of the world's population and ensure they get Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) without financial hardship, the partnership between UAE and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to establish the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) to fight diseases and put an end to polio. Additionally, the state's role in the COVID-19 global efforts such as vaccine development, supply chain and distribution targeted low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The UAE has shown a constant commitment to climate change mitigation and building a sustainable ecosystem by hosting global organizations, leading initiatives, supporting countries and is now organizing the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) this year. Great opportunities can be exploited to promote the country's contributions through further investment in cooperation, research and technology for better knowledge, sound policies, and innovative solutions for all regional and global health and climate change challenges.

This review is a fresh evidence-synthesizing attempt to document the role of the UAE. This role is well placed to play an additional major role with all partners to address these pressing challenges by boosting its role, especially in the Middle East region and advancing a new regional-oriented revolutionary expanded developmental plan that centered on low-resource countries empowerment, multilateralism, intersectionality and lasting collaborations.