Ala Al-Hamarneh, (Mainz/Sharjah)
Orient-Institut Beirut
November, 03 to November 04, 2016
The higher education landscape of United Arab Emirates reveals a special case study in the region within the contexts of diversity of academic providers and programs, internationalization networks and the federal structure of the state itself. The main goals of the higher education strategies associate political leverage with capacity building, the export strategy with meeting the demographic changes, the economic diversification with global branding, and the security concerns with academic internationalization. Last but not least, the issues of accreditation of the institution of higher education and academic programs in the country reflect the power relations within the federation, especially the dispute between the federal commission of accreditation in Abu Dhabi and the authorities in Dubai.
In my talk I will address the above mentioned and other aspects of development of higher education in the UAE based on the results of research in the UAE and other GCC states. By exemplifying the UAE, parallels, generalizations and specifications within the GCC higher education sectors are going to be highlighted. Strategies of higher education and models of internationalization and privatization are at the core of the presentation.
Ala Al-Hamarneh holds a PhD in economic and social geography and is Assistant Professor for Human Geography and senior researcher at the Centre for Research on the Arab World (CERAW) at the Institute of Geography, the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. He is currently a visiting professor for Modern Arab Society at the University of Sharjah, UAE. Issues of higher education, Islamic tourism, migration and neoliberal urban developments are at the core of his expertise, publications and research. The Arab World, especially Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and the GCC countries belong to the regional focus of his research. He has been the project manager and the senior researcher in three major research projects: Development of Tourism in the Arab World after 9/11, Globalization and Internationalization of Higher Education in the Arab World and Neoliberal Urbanizations in the GCC Countries. His last co-edited volume Islam and Muslims in Germany (Brill, 2008/2014) has been selected the “Title of the Year 2008” by Choice Magazine in the USA. He is currently co-editing two volumes to be published in 2017: International Tourism and the GCC States (Routledge, forthcoming) and Neoliberal Urban Developments in Arab Cities (Transcript, forthcoming).
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