Doha, – Qatar University (QU) launches the 15th General Assembly of the Conference of Rectors in the Middle East Region (CONFREMO) and 1st General Conference of C2R Middle East, which is held in Qatar for the first time.

QU President, Dr. Omar Al Ansari said in his opening statement, “We have the utmost pleasure of having gathered the presidents and rectors of leading francophone universities in the region, to represent a diverse range of knowledge and experience, and we remain committed to our role. We will continue to serve as a platform for meaningful dialogue, collaborative initiatives, and academic excellence, and we are certain that this conference will result in meaningful recommendations that can serve us and other universities in the region.” He explained that QU joined the ranks alongside 1000 universities, adding that he greatly values the opportunity to be able to further QU’s collaborations with the organization and with the Francophone world.

Director of International Affairs Office at QU Cesar Wazen said, “As soon as QU joined the AUF in 2019, it pledged to be in line with its policy of being an active member in every network it is part of. In that perspective, the university won the bid of hosting the 15th Conference of Rectors in the Middle East Region (CONFREMO) last year and invited the presidents and rectors of the leading francophone universities in the region to discuss areas of common interest for francophone universities in a changing global landscape. We are honored to serve as a platform for those discussions and we hope that the QU event will come up with recommendations that can serve other universities in the region.” Rector of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) Slim Khalbous said, “The AUF is one of the most important agencies and we have the great pleasure of being on the receiving end of many universities expressing their desire to join the AUF and this is really heartening, and we are very happy with this multilingual trend.” Regional Director of the AUF in the Middle East Jean-Noël Baléo noted: “The assembly today features many speakers and will be dedicated to a variety of topics, how to confront different ideas and how to come up with solutions.” President of the Universite La Sagesse in Lebanon and President of CONFREMO Prof. Lara Karam Boustany pointed out that AI is playing a big role in the revolution on the job market and university curricula and assessing our professors and educators within the scientific Francophonie, in light of the requirements of quality assurance and university rankings. Prof. Lara Boustany also noted that this assembly will give way to look back on the past few years.

Source: Qatar News Agency