Universities urged to develop links with industry

By Wagdy Sawahel. This was the main message to come out of two Arab conferences held this month. The first concerned universities and industry under the title "The Role of the University in Economic Development" and was held in Mansoura, a small city in Egypt.
The second was titled "Strengthening University-Industry Interaction" and was held at An-Najah National University in Nablus in Palestine a week later.
The main message from both conferences was that the weak links between universities and industry were the vital reason for Arab states falling far behind in building knowledge economies. This was also outlined in the Arab Knowledge Economy Report 2014, published last December. More...