Achieving International Competitiveness Through Academic Accreditation:the Case Of Qatar University

Accreditation is a process of quality assurance that determines whether an institution or program meets stablished standards for function, structure, and performance. The accreditation process also fosters institutional and program improvement. Accreditation is a voluntary process of evaluation and review, which is performed by a nongovernmental agency of peers. In a report by the World Bank (2008) officials warned that education reform needs to take toppriority in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, including the GCC states, inorder that education meets current economic development challenges and helps to tackle high unemployment. In this report, globalization, the knowledge economy, demographic changes and financing are diagnosed to be the main challenges facing education in the MENA countries