The Gulf Research Center

will organize

The GCC-EU Partnership: Cooperation in Higher Education

Workshop in the Framework of the Al-Jisr project on GCC-EU relations

In cooperation with Kuwait University and the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Germany and with the support of the European Commission

Kuwait

March 10 and 11, 2009

Institutional relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council states and the European Union have to be filled with life by deepening cooperation between the people and institutions of both regions. In the context of the Al-Jisr project on GCC-EU Public Diplomacy and Outreach, the Gulf Research Center, the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Kuwait University want to contribute to this process with focusing on the issue of education. The Al-Jisr attempts to identify new constructive ways of cooperation in addition to reviewing the current status of relations. Within the framework of specifically focused workshops the project seeks to bring together a broad network of government officials, business leaders, academics and specialists, media personalities, civil society leaders, students and other engaged individuals to make sure that the project results will be disseminated among a wide group of people in order to allow recommendations to be implemented. In this context, the project partners are holding an Open Forum/Expert Workshop with the focus on Cooperation in Higher Education. For competing in a globalized world first-class educational systems are needed. To invest in education is an investment in the future. The target of our two-day initiative is to encourage dialogue and to formulate recommendations for actors involved in educational reform processes – Experts, Politicians and Students: what can the EU and the GCC do to improve educational systems, to strengthen exchange of experiences between both regions and how can institutions of both regions set up common initiatives?