On Thursday, May 11, 2023, the Vice President for Scientific Affairs, Dr. Hazem Milli, represented Al-Watania Private University in a workshop held by the National Authority for Quality and Accreditation in Higher Education under the title (Launch of the reference model for the quality of higher education in Syria) at Al-Assad National Library in the capital, Damascus, with the participation of heads Universities, members of the Board of Commissioners and vice presidents of universities for scientific affairs, quality managers in all public and private universities, deans of faculties of human medicine, and a number of experts and interested people.

Prof. Dr. Bassam Bashir Ibrahim, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, confirmed in his speech that “the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has been striving for a long time to establish the foundations of quality and quality in its educational institutions, taking many measures in this regard, as a number of universities have made significant strides in this regard.” field in keeping with the movement of development and scientific and technological progress.

Prof. Dr. Bassam Bashir Ibrahim noted that “The ministry has implemented many initiatives in the field of quality improvement and focused in its plans on gathering efforts and redirecting them with the aim of building an integrated qualitative system for the quality of higher education, and among these initiatives came the issuance of Law No. 33 of 2021 establishing the National Authority for Quality And accreditation in higher education. Its main objective was to develop the higher education system and enhance competitiveness in order to improve the quality of this system, enhance confidence in the outputs of higher education, establish scientific accreditation rules for our educational institutions, measure the quality of their performance, programs and curricula according to the rules of internationally approved standards, and evaluate them periodically in order to determine the extent to which they meet the requirements National and global accreditation”.

While Prof. Dr. Riyad Tayfour, Chairman of the National Commission for Quality and Accreditation in Higher Education, gave a presentation on the reference model for the quality of higher education, explaining that “The work on the reference model began since the creation of the Commission at the end of 2021 and with unremitting efforts until it reached this meeting and presented what was reached for discussion with the concerned parties in public and private educational institutions”.

Prof.Dr. Riyad Tayfour pointed out that the aim of applying the model is to develop a culture of quality in Syrian higher education institutions and ensure its sustainability, encourage and develop innovative educational materials, and benefit from scientific and applied research and studies to achieve the highest level of indicators of sustainable development, in addition to developing mechanisms for evaluating curricula and graduate students. and members of the teaching staff, and to enhance the competitiveness of higher education institutions.

Prof.Dr. Riyad Tayfour explained that the workshop includes two sessions to discuss the next steps to move these standards presented towards their real application, by involving all universities in moving these standards into practice with the aim of reaching agreement on the elements of the model and developing a unified application mechanism for these institutions, ending with the stage Self-assessment and access to the accreditation required by the Authority.

It is worth noting the joint efforts made by public and private universities within the work team, which contribute to the preparation of these standards, their organization and the structuring of future work plans to improve the reality of quality and reliability in higher education institutions and develop them in line with their actual need to continue in the pace of development and modernity.