Education In The Arab World

Though diverse, the Arab world boasts a unique culture and native language, both of which are unlike those found in English-speaking countries. Perhaps due to the nature of these differences, Arab-Western relations have been described as existing on one of the world’s great cultural fault-lines. Debate about the potential effects, both positive and negative, of English-medium education and the learning of English in the region’s schools and universities is one expression of this. Even as debate continues, issues of politics, culture, social mobility, and identity are played out in the English language classrooms of the Arab world on a daily basis. The current volume explores some of the concerns related to the place of English and English-medium education in the Arab world. It examines issues of the relationship between English, Arabic, cultural identity and power in the region within a historical and contemporary framework; the experiences of learners from Arabic-medium secondary schools adjusting to English-medium colleges; and the challenges and potential rewards of promoting student-centered classrooms and technology in traditionally teacher-centered environments. These issues are explored from the perspectives of teachers, students, researchers and other stakeholders in Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Sudan.

What kind of world should we strive for in the next century? What roles will education and training play in creating such a world? With rapid technological advances and the arrival of the information age, education systems as well as labor markets have undergone tremendous changes, affecting not only curricula and teaching methodology, but also the nature of skills and competencies required of graduates and new entrants to a changing workforce in the twenty-first century. In this volume, leading scholars and practitioners unite in an effort to examine the importance of education in the development of nations in the new millennium. This volume is unique in that it engages in cross-national and cross-cultural studies ranging from Australia to Japan, Canada and the UAE. It also explores central concepts in education such as Total Quality Management and Just-in-Time Learning and provides an economist's view of how and in what form education and training influence growth. While the models for effective education may differ, it is undeniable that education is crucial for individual development and economic growth, national production, and building a strong civil society.

In comparison to other parts of the developing world education in Arab countries has been lagging behind. This book examines the impact of Western cultural influence, the opportunities for reform and the sustainability of current initiatives.

The operation of schools in the Arab world is a topic about which very little is known in the West. This volume, first published in 1991, provides information about the Arab school and thus contributes to an understanding of what is taught, by whom, and under what conditions. It seeks to define the interaction between traditional elements and innovative forces impinging on the Arab school, as well as reviewing policies that concern the education of Arab children. It is maintained that Arab schools are in a state of transition, reproducing society and its norms on one hand while on the other operating as agents seeking to transform society. This work examines this claim in detail, providing a unique discussion about education in the Arab world.

A rigorous examination of higher education policymaking in the Arab world None of the momentous challenges Arab universities face is unique either in kind or degree. Other societies exhibit some of the same pathologies—insufficient resources, high drop-out rates, feeble contributions to research and development, inappropriate skill formation for existing job markets, weak research incentive structures, weak institutional autonomy, and co-optation into the political order. But, it may be that the concentration of these pathologies and their depth is what sets the Arab world apart. Missions Impossible seeks to explain the process of policymaking in higher education in the Arab world, a process that is shaped by the region’s politics of autocratic rule. Higher education in the Arab world is directly linked to crises in economic growth, social inequality and, as a result, regime survival. If unsuccessful, higher education could be the catalyst to regime collapse. If successful, it could be the catalyst to sustained growth and innovation—but that, too, could unleash forces that the region’s autocrats are unable to control. Leaders are risk-averse and therefore implement policies that tame the universities politically but in the process sap their capabilities for innovation and knowledge creation. The result is sub-optimal and, argues John Waterbury in this thought-provoking study, unsustainable. Skillfully integrating international debates on higher education with rich and empirically informed analysis of the governance and finance of higher education in the Arab world today, Missions Impossible explores and dissects the manifold dilemmas that lie at the heart of educational reform and examines possible paths forward.