Ambassdore Faeqa Saeed ALSALEH, Assistant Secretary General of the League of Arab StatesHead of Social Affairs Sector

- She is currently Assistant Secretary General of the League of Arab States – Head of Social Affairs Sector (September 2012 – Present)
- Before taking her current position, she was Advisor to the Secretary General of the League of Arab States (LAS), and Director of Education and Scientific Research at LAS as well as in charge of the Arab Economic and Social Council Secretariat.
- Before joining LAS, she was the Assistant Undersecretary for Planning and Information at the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Bahrain and held several positions in statistics and educational planning for 25 years.
- She is a member of several regional and international councils such as: EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) Advisory Board, International Institute of Educational Planning’s (IIEP) Council of Consultant Fellows and Council of the Arab Organization for Quality Assurance in Education (AROQA), Council of Arab Scientific Research and Education Network (ASREN)
- She also been a member in many councils and higher committees such as: G8/BMENA on Education Task Force, Arab Planning Institute Council, Public Administration Institute Council and the Education Committee of the Supreme Council of Women.
- She also held key positions in many projects such as national coordinator of Education For All (EFA), project coordinator of the Education and Training Reform in Bahrain and project manager of enhancing the quality of education in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
- Research interests focus on education reform and development and comparative education. She published a number of books in Arabic within the Education System in the World Series. She is also in charge of producing national reports on education in the Kingdom of Bahrain and Chief Editor of the "Educational Information Journal ".
- She participated in several conferences, seminars..etc, and presented a number of papers and lectures in education, management, librarianship, information and educational planning.

Mr. Kamel Braham, World bank

Kamel Braham is the Human Development Coordinator for the Maghreb in the Middle East and North Africa Region of the World Bank. He joined the World Bank in 2006 and worked on education and capacity building issues in North Africa and the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia. He was successively the Administrator of the World Bank Institute Scholarship Program and the Task Team leader for the World Bank education program in Iraq and in Yemen. Before joining the Bank, he worked for UNESCO and held several senior positions in the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education, and Economic and Social Council. Mr. Braham holds an engineering degree in statistics from the University of Paris VI, a Master’s degree in economics from the University of Tunis Al Manar, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration and a Certificate in Educational Planning and Policy Design from the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Dr. Esam Zabalawi, AABFS , Jordan

Dr. Zabalawi was born in Amman, Jordan (1950). He received his B.Sc. honors with distinction in electrical engineering (communications)in 1974 from Cairo University (Egypt), and his M.Sc. with distinction in Microwave Communication Engineering form Leeds University (England) in 1976, and his Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Leeds University (England) in 1979. He was granted The Leeds University award for graduate studies for three years 1976- 1979
Dr. Zabalawi is specialized in analog and digital signal processing and communication techniques. His interests include: communication industry, information technology, and technology transfer and higher education development.

Dr. Zabalawi is currently the president of The Arab Academy for Banking & Financial Sciences since 2009, Dr. Zabalawi Was the President of International University for Science And Technology (IUST) 2005-2007. Was a higher education Consultant for several companies (Trans middle east Int. distribution Co – Eduhouse Int .Co) 2005-2007 . Dr. Zabalawi became the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research – Jordan 2003-2005 . Was the Chancellor of the University of Sharjah from 1999-2003. In 1999 he became the Chairman of the Higher Education Accreditation Council of Jordan. In 1996 he became the Vice-President (Scientific and Medical Faculties) of the University of Jordan. In 1994 he headed the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Dept. of the College of Engineering at Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman. Between 1989-1993, he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. Prior that he chaired the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University, where he taught a number of courses in his field at the undergraduate and graduate levels and he supervised a number of graduate theses.

Dr. Zabalawi was an active member in the higher education development team. He has organized and chaired a number of regional and international conferences and workshops. He is a well-published research scholar. He was a research fellow with the German Academy of Exchange (DAAD) at the University of Karsruhe, the Technical University of Hamburg, and the University of Erlangen, Germany. In addition he was a Research fellow, Electrical Engineering Dept., University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada and Research Fellow with Telenokia, Helsinki, Finland.

Dr. Zabalawi served (1993-1999) as the Council Representative for Jordan and Gulf States to The Engineering Council , UK. He is a Chartered Engineer , Fellow (FIET), Institute of Engineering and Technology, (IET) UK and senior member at the IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, New York, U.S.A.,. He is a member of many technical societies. Currently he is chairman of the IEEE section of Jordan and a member of the IET executive committee. And he is member of the Jordan Engineering Association since 1974.

Dr. Zabalawi is a member of the Arab Thought Forum and a member of the World Affairs Council-Jordan and he is a member of the administrative committee of the Jordanian Academicians Society.

Mrs. Magda Hussein Zaki,Minister Plenipotentiary, Director of department of Education and Scientific Research, League of Arab States

Magda H. Zaki is a graduate of the American University in Cairo where she majored in Political Science. . During her years of college, she had the chance to participate in an exchange program in Grand Rapid State College as well as to travel intensively for courses in China (1978) and the US (1980). In 2000, she received her M.A from the same university; her thesis topic was “National Identity in Central Asia in onset of Islamic movements in Post Soviet era… the case of Uzbekistan” which was partly written while visiting the countries of Central Asia in the late 90's.Between 1980 and 1990, she joined her family's business working with different international co-operations such as Rockwell Int. (USA), Mitsubishi (Japan) etc...She has been working for the League of Arab States since 1993 where she joined the Arab Fund for Development and Cooperation with Africa, focusing on the development of electric networks in the Comoros islands after their independence. Later, she joined the department of North America focusing on US-Arab relations during the Bush II administration. In 2008 she got promoted as director of the department of the Dialogue of Civilizations.

Ms. Sharifa Hajjat, Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE

Sharifa Hajjat is an Education Technology and eLearning Expert in the Middle East. With the Higher Colleges of Technology- Dubai, Sharifa managed and implemented 150+ eLearning projects varied from content development for Blackboard LMS, using Social Network in T&L, Mobile Learning, implementing the use of Virtual Classrooms, T&L in immersive environments (i.e. Second Life), various web 2.0 tools in addition to implementing the use of iPADs in education, amongst many other projects.As a Blackboard Certified Trainer, Sharifa trained 200+ faculty in the Higher Colleges of Technology – United Arab Emirates. Sharifa designed an award winning Blackboard Vista Certification Training Program. She has also designed other successful faculty certifications such as “Internet Safety Module” & “Professional Online Instructor”. In 2011, Sharifa founded the eLearning Arab Academy which mission is to advance the Education in the Middle East through the effective use of Education Technology. The successful regional initiative attracted 42000 members from 19 Arab countries across the region in its first year.

Prof. Dr. Elias M. Choueiri,President of LAPS (Lebanon), and Member of WSO’s Board of Directors (USA)

Prof. Dr. Elias M. Choueiri is a high-ranking executive officer in both public and private institutions in Lebanon. He is the author/co-author of 20 books and over 300 refereed articles, technical reports, conference papers, and newspaper articles. He pursued his higher education studies at several universities in the United States of America, which culminated with a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Clarkson University, New York, in 1987. His research interests include, but are not limited, to the following: quality assurance in education management, strategic management of higher education, highway design, traffic safety, driving dynamics, driver behavior, and railway transportation. He has won 20 awards for his scholarship, and has held faculty and managerial positions at several universities in the United States of America and Lebanon. He sits on the editorial boards of three scientific journals. He serves as President of Lebanese Association for Public Safety (LAPS) - Lebanon. He sits on the Board of Directors of the World Safety Organization (WSO) - USA, chairs the WSO Highway Transport Committee, chairs the WSO Transportation of Dangerous Goods Committee, manages the WSO National Office for Lebanon, and serves as WSO’s Liaison Officer to the United Nations.

Nina Arnhold, Program Leader Higher Education- World Bank

Nina Arnhold has worked for The World Bank since 2006 as Senior Education Specialist and Human Development Sector Coordinator for Central Europe and the Baltics (the latter from 2011 - 2013). She joined the CMI and the World Bank's MENA region in summer 2013 as Program Leader for Higher Education as well as task team leader for lending operations and technical assistance programs, mainly in the Maghreb. Before joining the World Bank, Mrs. Arnhold has worked as a Senior Program Manager for the European University Association (EUA) in Brussels, inter alia on Bologna reforms and internationalization, quality assurance and higher education financing as well as for the German Center of Higher Education (CHE) and the Boston Consulting Group. She holds a DPhil and MSc in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford and an MA in the humanities from the TU Berlin. She has authored and co-authored books and reports on higher education and competitiveness, most recently in the context of the Europe 2020 agenda.