Al-Fanar Media provides balanced, accurate and independent coverage of all aspects of academic life in the Arab world. Dedicated to illuminating key issues in Arab higher education and encouraging dialogue among institutions, leaders, and other stakeholders both within and beyond the region, Al-Fanar Media serves as a platform for open and critical discussion. The publication, bilingual in English and Arabic, features new articles in a biweekly newsletter. Al-Fanar Media also works to inspire journalists in the region to cover education. Al-Fanar Media strives to be neutral and does not take positions on political or religious issues. The editors believe that freedom of speech is a fundamental building block of civil societies and that academic freedom is a necessity for the healthy functioning of academic institutions. We independently select topics for coverage and stories for publication, and never accept payment in exchange for publishing articles. Al-Fanar Media receives generous funding support from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Open Society Foundations. Past donors include the U.N. Democracy Fund. Al-Fanar Media was launched in 2013 as a project of the Alexandria Trust, a London-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing educational access and quality in the Arab world.