USAID and TAG-College Partner to Develop Professional Communities in Jordan

The MoU comes to streamline access to TAG-College data on Jordanian best practices and methodologies to enrich the content of the Professional Communities portal


AMMAN --- August 31, 2009 --- The USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ) signed on Sunday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College of Business (TAG-College) in a partnership that will sustain and develop the overall objectives of the Professional Communities in Jordan.

The signing ceremony took place at SABEQ premises and was attended by USAID Mission Director Mr. Jay Knott, Director of USAID Economic Growth Office Mr. Steve Gonyea, Mr. Mustafa Nasereddin, executive director, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) Amman Office, Mr. Bassam Abu-Ghazaleh, executive director of TAG-College, Dr. Hesham Gharaibeh dean of TAG-College, as well as high ranking officials from both sides.

The MoU comes to streamline access to TAG-College data on Jordanian best practices and methodologies to enrich the content of the Professional Communities portal, which is the tool for professionals in their respective fields. The portal serves to provide high quality learning resources that support institutional reform of Professional Community member institutions. TAG-College will provide Professional Community members access to their inventory of research papers conducted by professors and students in Jordan.


In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Knott commended the initiative as a valid expansion to the economic developmental efforts that USAID Jordan carries out with different counterparts. "It is an important private sector organizational reform tool that we hope will be sustained," he said.

As leaders in offering quality business programs, TAG-College aims through this partnership to involve its faculty members and students to become affiliated Professional Community members. TAG-College students who meet the criteria to become Professional Communities Members, will participate in creating a rich pool of expertise that would further enhance Professional Communities roundtables, discussion sessions, and other activities. TAG-College faculty members will also be hosted as guest speakers in the areas of their expertise.

From his part, Mr. Bassam Abu-Ghazaleh expressed his satisfaction with the new partnership stating that ?TAG-College, as one of the most important specialized academic institutions, has all the required facilities and resources to make this initiative a success.?

The partnership will also create an opportunity of business matchmaking between members who represent Jordanian firms and institutions interested in conducting research to enhance their organizations performance. The Program will be leveraging on this partnership to ensure sustainability of the Professional Communities Initiative beyond SABEQ.

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College of Business (TAG-College) was established in 2006 to offer high quality business programs. It is the first college of its kind to represent a partnership between the private and public sectors in the Arab world. This unique partnership brings the business expertise of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) to the academic world of the German Jordanian University (GJU).

The USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ) is a five year broad economic development initiative implemented by Bearing Point, Inc., and a sizeable team of international and Jordanian partner firms. By supporting improvements in the business environments and providing assistance to expand innovation and productivity in Jordanian businesses, it supports the main objective of building up the private sector as a powerful engine of economic growth.