Page - 169 - in Radical Solutions and Open Science - An Open Approach to Boost Higher Education

Chapter11 TheResponseofHigherEducation Institutions toGlobal,Regional, andNationalChallenges TheTransformationPlanof theUniversityofBahrain 2016–2021asaCaseStudy RiyadY.Hamzah Abstract Higher education—asmanyother sectors—is challengedby thedynam- icsof theglobal and local socio-economic influencingour lives, economy,environ- ment,andlifestyle.For instance,currentlyexistingjobsandskillsareexpectedtobe replacedbysuper-fastartificialintelligentcloud-basedemployees.Traditionalhigher education systemand institutions eagerlypursuing transformation to copewith the current and future demands in skills, teaching and learning, research, technology, fundsamongstotherdemandingfactorsofourworld.Thispaper showcase theUni- versity of Bahrain and present how the University is transforming to address the global, regional, andnational challenges it is facing today.ThisPaperdescribes the keypillarsandthekeyperformanceindicatorsoftheTransformationPlan2016–2021 oftheUniversityofBahraintorespondtothosechallenges.TheTransformationPlan is inspiredby theBahrainEconomicVision2030.Furthermore, thePlan is aligned to theNationalHigher Education Strategy 2014–2024, and theNational Research Strategy2014–2024.TheTransformationPlanalso is inalignmentwith thenational endeavors toachieve theUnitedNationsSustainableDevelopmentGoals2030. KeywordsHighereducation ·University ·Strategy ·Challenges ·Skills · Bahrain ·GCC 11.1 Introduction Higher Education Institutions (HEI) face numerous challenges in the 21st century as economics, environment, demographics, political, labor market, technological, aswell as social and health issues, are rapidly changing. HEIs, therefore, need to be responsive to the opportunities and challenges set by these issues, which are shapingthehighereducationsectorandthefutureofemployment.Universitiesneed R.Y.Hamzah (B) UniversityofBahrain,Zallaq,KingdomofBahrain e-mail: rhamzah@uob.edu.bh ©TheAuthor(s)2020 D.Burgos (ed.),RadicalSolutionsandOpenScience,LectureNotes inEducationalTechnology,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4276-3_11 177