The 3rd Core Group Meeting on 'Ranking Universities of OIC Member Countries'
Date: 21-22 February 2008
Venue: Tehran - Iran

Iran - TehranThe 3rd Core Group Meeting on OIC University Ranking was held on February 21-22, 2008 in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mr. H. Hakan Eryetli and Mr. Esat Bakımlı represented the Centre thereat.

The objective of the meeting was to review and discuss the progress of the OIC University Ranking and finalize the process prior to the 11th OIC Islamic Summit Conference to be held in Dakar, Senegal on March 13-14, 2008. The meeting started with opening remarks by Dr. Hossein Mohammadi Doostdar, President of the Centre for International Scientific Studies & Collaboration (CISSC), Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, welcoming remarks by Prof Dr. Mansour Kabganian, Deputy Minister of Science, Research and Technology, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the message of the OIC Secretary General read by Ambassador Ali Akbar Salehi, OIC Assistant Secretary General for S&T.

Moderated by Ass. S. G. Ali Akbar Salehi, the meeting adopted the proposed agenda and continued with presentations by Mr. E. Bakımlı, Researcher at SESRIC, and Prof. A. Memariani, Director of the Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education (IRPHE), Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mr. Bakımlı summarized the progress achieved so far in OIC University Ranking by SESRIC, shared the Centre’s experience throughout the process with special focus on the problems related to the practice of data collection and the procedure of ranking, and concluded with a proposal of some fine tunings and adjustments to overcome such problems. Following the presentation by SESRIC, Prof. Memariani presented the experience of IRPHE in ranking of the universities in the Islamic Republic of Iran by using a software package developed by IRPHE in accordance with the adopted criteria, procedures and mechanisms for the purpose of the OIC university ranking.

On the other hand, Dr. Hassanuddeen Aziz made an informative presentation on Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The meeting requested Dr. Hassanuddeen to present this information within the framework of the Science & Technology activities of the 11th OIC Islamic Summit Conference and later to prepare a comprehensive document on Quality Assurance Mechanisms for higher education in the member states.

The meeting also reviewed and discussed the Terms of Reference for the Coordination Bureau of the OIC University Ranking, established under the auspices of IRPHE, in its capacity as the secretariat of the Core Group.

The meeting decided to submit a progress report on the implementation of the OIC University Ranking to the 11th Islamic Summit Conference.