What Makes a Quality Education – Bricks and Mortar or Competent Teaching Staff ?!

Today in the World, people are beginning to use the size and aesthetics of bricks and mortar as the criteria for determining a good school. This new trend compels one to ask what makes a quality education / good school? Is it the size and beauty of the school buildings or the quality of the school staff ?!

 The conversations among the so-called educated elites, who send their children to private schools in Arab World, usually revolve around the bricks, mortar and expensive “learning” toys at the school campuses. In the most conversations, no one talked about the qualifications and competencies of the teaching staff at school. Does it mean that the quality of instruction does not matter while deciding on a school for our children?

Growing up in Egypt as a student who received my elementary through graduate degree education in Egypt, I always recall the names of professors & teachers who made the difference in my life. Even though I went to good schools where classes were held in buildings (not 5 star buildings), the aesthetics of each school building has never crossed my mind. I can hardly recall the color of any school building because they are not as important to me as the teaching staff.

It is over 19 years since I earned my bachelor degree, but I still remember the names of my professors as well as my elementary school teachers. These names have become synonymous to schooling to me. They made the difference in my life and that is I firmly believe that what makes a Quality Education/ Great School is the quality of the teaching staff, not the size of the skyscrapers or 5-7 star buildings.

Finally, do we really care whether the expensive tuition are invested in recruiting well educated, competent teachers at the new schools? Besides the learning toys and tools, do you really care about the types of books used at those schools? Regardless of what we think about any school buildings, it is very important to consider who is teaching the students and the types of books & curriculum in use at those schools.

I still maintain that what makes a Quality Education / Great School is not the bricks and mortar of the building, but the competency of the teaching staff and the instructional materials (books & curricula) used at the school campus.

The Importance of Globalization in Higher Education

The Globalization is about the interconnectedness of people and businesses across the world that eventually leads to global cultural, political and economic integration. It is the ability to move and communicate easily with others all over the world in order to conduct business internationally. The word, globalization, is relatively new, coined in the late 1970’s. The airplane, the telephone, and the Internet are just three inventions, which are attributable to the spread of globalization. Due to the increased demand in the high tech industry around the world, business and industry have potential for huge profits working globally. So in today’s world, globalization is an important concept for students in higher education to understand and appreciate because of the demand in business and industry to hire people who can work with people of other nations and cultures and if need be can travel independently internationally to promote their business or industry. In addition, the world faces global challenges that will take interdisciplinary groups to solve these challenges; providing access to clean water for everyone on this planet and making clean renewable energy affordable just to name a few. These global challenges will need to be solved through the gathering and sharing of knowledge across disciplines, institutions, and other entities institutions on a global scale. Creating meaningful relationships that work globally is in itself challenging.

Last but not least, we have to build people before buildings.

Global University of Science and Technology (GUST)

Prof. Dr. Mohamed G. Kafafy,

President