The World Bank. Universities through the looking glass: Benchmarking university governance to enable modernization of higher education in MENA. Author, Washington DC, 2012. ISBN: 9780-6156-2264-4. Pages: 173.

Published in March 2012, this report presents results from the Screening Card exercise, benchmarking university governance across 41 universities in the Middle East and Africa. University governance is defined along five dimensions: context, mission, and goals; management orientation; autonomy; accountability; and participation. Outcomes of the international comparison are followed by individual country reports on Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, and Egypt.

Some of the most important conclusions include:

• At national level, there are two clear models reflecting the European legacy – Anglophone and French
• There is little awareness of the suitability of different governance models which results in a lack of differentiation of universities’ missions
• A clear absence of a national vision for higher education was observed in most countries
• The benchmarking exercise was critical to developing institutional self-awareness which forms the baseline for modernization efforts
• Benchmarking can be helpful in monitoring implementation of reforms

The World Bank