The middleast realizes that education is important for their growth once they run out of oil. They notice the success of israel and are trying to mimic it by creating institutes of excellence, but what they dont realize is there is no way they can mimic the culture of israel, which is more responsible for their success than anything else.

Its like u can build buildings in Bangalore but u cant replicate the culture of the valley. Bangalore ended up being a sweatshop where technology companies set up back end offices.

More over when half your population is not considered equal to the other half and is considered not ok for smart jobs or serious careers, I think that's a serious disadvantage human capital wise. Personally I don't think these programs will do any good.

Also, most of these programs are really new and I doubt if they will match the quality of the parent programs.

Disclaimer- I was offered to interview for one such program last year and I did not take it up.