Spotlight of the region
Advanced Institutional Visit to Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2023
To support the partnership goals of the University of Essex, as outlined in the University’s Partnership Sub-Strategy, our senior management team, led by the Vice-Chancellor, Anthony Forster, along with Dr. Annecy Lax, Professor Maria Fasli, Executive Dean of Science and Health, and Vanessa Potter, Director of CER, recently visited Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) from September 30 to October 6. This visit was supported by the Middle East and North Africa Regional Team, comprised of Rosie Kaylani and Hassan Abdelrahim.
The University has longstanding partnerships with universities in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The visit proved highly successful in revitalizing existing university partnerships and forging new relationships. Essex has been a particularly popular destination, especially between 2000 and 2010, for disciplines such as Economics, Languages and Linguistics, Law, Computer Science, and Electronic Engineering.
Two receptions were held by the Vice-Chancellor in Riyadh and Jeddah for academic staff from various universities. Anthony Forster commented, ‘not only was it a chance for me to share our successes, but also an opportunity for me to hear first-hand from our amazing alumni about their experience of studying at Essex and how this offered them opportunities not available in their home countries’. Approximately 30% of Essex's female alumni in KSA are employed in Higher Education, with many PhD alumni now holding senior leadership positions and spearheading internationalization efforts, eager to foster partnerships in their respective universities.
Anthony also expressed his encouragement, stating,‘I was encouraged by the quality of international partners who would like to work with us and how our international partnerships and Essex graduates are making a difference in the world’.