The inaugural MENA Regional Engineering Education Conference (MENAREE2020) took place in Dubai on March 2-5, in the shadow of the global onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a drop in participation due to cancellations, the Conference was successfully launched as the inaugural event for the Middle East and North Africa Regional Engineering Education Society (MENAREES), a regional society founded under the auspices of IFEES, and promoting best practices in engineering education in the Middle East and North Africa. An IFEES pre-conference workshop on principles of program assessment was delivered by Alaa Ashmawy, President-Elect of IFEES, and was attended by participants from various universities in the region.

The conference was supported by IFEES and GEDC, and sponsored by ABET, the global accreditor of university and college programs in applied and natural science, engineering, and engineering technology. Due to the uncertainties surrounding international travel ahead of the event, keynote lectures were delivered remotely by Michael Milligan, Executive Director and CEO of ABET, and Carlos Santamarina, Professor of Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. The keynotes were centered around engineering education for global sustainability, and the role of innovation in addressing the sustainable development challenges.

“Going ahead with the conference during such a critical time was a tough decision, but the steering committee felt it is important to proceed with the conference as the inaugural event of MENAREES,” said Ashmawy. The conference was among the last public events held in Dubai prior to a nationwide lockdown of universities, which was announced during the second day of the conference. A national directive was issued for all universities to operate through online platforms till the end of the current academic year.

Further information regarding the conference is available on the MENAREES website.