“The rare a thing, the more its value increases, except knowledge; the more diffused the more valuable it is” Ali bin-Abi-Talib
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s (BA) mission statement is to be “a center of excellence for the production and dissemination of knowledge and to be a place of dialogue and understanding between cultures and people”. In this light, the BA presents this Directory which emphasizes the importance of providing access to information to all and tackles the issue of philanthropy in higher education in the Arab world.
To date, local and regional initiatives supporting higher education in the Arab world are very limited. Most of the support being provided is through governmental institutions or foreign donors operating either from the Arab World or outside.
Recognizing the need to address the current lack of information in the region about local and regional higher education donors, the BA attempts to raise philanthropic awareness among the corporate sector and avoid duplication of efforts between existing donors in this field; as a step taken, through this Directory, to pave the way to establishing more initiatives supporting higher education in the Arab World.
The Directory is the result of a mapping project done by a group of young BA researchers. They spent two years investigating and gathering information about donors originating from 12 Arab countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, whose philanthropic work is operated from their countries to benefit their countries or the Arab region. The researchers compiled and published the gathered donors’ profiles in the following pages.
The “Higher Education Funding Opportunities in the Arab Region” will be updated and maintained regularly. Donors will be given the chance to update their programs and add their new initiatives through direct contact with the project team. Moreover, it will be open for new donors to join and appear in this online Directory.
Acknowledgment
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) acknowledges with deep appreciation the Ford Foundation Regional Office in Cairo for their generous support of this Directory. Special thanks and appreciation are due to Dr. Dina El Khawaga; Program Officer for Higher Education (at the Ford Foundation Regional Office in Cairo), for her great initiative and expert support that led to the implementation of this project and the launching of this Directory.
The BA would like to wholeheartedly thank the participating donors in this Directory for coming forward and agreeing to publishing their profiles. Also, for their efforts in supporting higher education and giving the end users the opportunity to get acquainted with their programs and other donors with an aim to boost this sector in the Arab region.
Afterword
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina sincerely hopes that this Directory will pave the way to launching more initiatives to boost philanthropy in higher education in the Arab world and to changing the existing perspective of donors about the way to go about philanthropy.
Although this Directory includes many donor-funding schemes that exist throughout the Arab region from several organizations, what is required is further awareness and outreach efforts of the availability of funds to students seeking higher education facilities. Accordingly, during the upcoming period, the project team will work on updating the on-line Directory; not only through adding new components, but also through updating the existing data.
