The question of SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) diasporic identity formation has been widely debated in area studies, ethnic studies, and the burgeoning field of Arab American Studies with scholars such as Sarah Gualtieri (2009), Nadine Naber (2012), and Neda Maghbouleh (2017) arguing that people of SWANA descent are racial minorities…

This study investigated the differences between Arab and American distance learners' preference in the 2 components of transactional distance (structure and interaction) and their relation to learners' self-efficacy and help seeking. The study sample consisted of 95 cases from each group (N = 190). Study results indicated significant differences…

To what extent is American business education "hegemonic" in the Arab world? To answer this, the authors examine whether Lebanese people exposed to American-style business education share the values implicit in their textbooks and teaching resources. Finding evidence for such values among Lebanese business students and working people…

Measured value-order responses of 31 Arab (Jordanian) and 27 American business students and studied how culturally-ingrained values were reflected in students' perceptions of people they met. Economic, political, social, and theoretical values were nearly the same for both groups; slight differences were found for aesthetics and religion. (SLD)

The role of the architect in the Arab world is discussed from the viewpoint of an Arab professional with some American training. The architect's potential for policy-making and generally influencing society is emphasized. (LBH)

With more than a dozen American universities opening branches and campuses on the Persian Gulf, the oil-rich emirates of the Arabian peninsula are threatening to dethrone cities like Cairo, Baghdad, and Beirut as the academic centers of the Middle East. Wealthy, safe, and relatively stable, these emirates are vying to become the new intellectual…

Studies the relationship between attitudes toward Americans and social contact with Americans by Arab students at U.S. universities. Uses causal process-analysis and path analysis to show that desire for contact significantly mediated between attitude and contact, and that social contact was not significantly mediated by understanding of the host…

This paper examines ideologies of American study abroad in politically and culturally "non-Western" countries. Drawing from the theory of orientalism (Said, 1978), we analyze how American public discourse on study abroad for learners of Mandarin and Arabic manifests an orientalist thinking, and how such macro discourse both produces…

Many countries are challenged by the need to build both capacity and quality simultaneously in order to meet the accelerating needs of their society. Should what already exists be renovated, or should new institutions be created? Innovate from within or from without? Or perhaps some combination of both? In the U.S., postsecondary…

Dubai has long competed with its wealthy Persian Gulf neighbors to become a regional hub of higher education. Yet its Knowledge Village, a collection of nearly 20 foreign-university campuses and local educational institutes, has been overshadowed by Qatar's Education City, which is home to the branch campuses of a number of high-profile American…

American university globalization has increasingly targeted and been courted by authoritarian states. While the reasons for these partnerships are manifold--including the ease of top-down large-scale monetary investment, "knowledge economy" development strategies, social engineering programs, and other corporate and imperial…

Since at least the early 1990s, Arab governments have made women's participation in higher education a priority. Across the region, young women fill the crowded lecture halls and bustling courtyards of universities. On many campuses, they outnumber men. But women's increased participation in higher education does not necessarily translate into…

The author recently served on a five-member international review panel for Saudi Arabia's National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment. The panel's mission was to evaluate the Arab Open University against the commission's accreditation criteria to determine if the university should be eligible for King Abdullah's national…

This paper outlines the possible impact of Bakhtinian theory concept in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction. Bakhtin views on the culturally and politically embedded nature of language and addressivity and answerability are ideal for discussion of cross-cultural communication. His cultural and political context are inseparable from an…

This dissertation maps the landscape of the cross-national educational transfer of American higher education in the Arabian Gulf region, with a case study of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar. It examines how and why Qatar has borrowed, and Georgetown has lent, the American model of higher education, specifically…