Higher Education, Technology, and the Job Market in Morocco… and the USA

King Fahd School of Translation

I was in Morocco last week for two events relating to the the role of the university in preparing graduating students for the evolving job market in this country. The first was the annual April seminar at the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. This year it focused on higher education and the job market and delved into some important issues. I found developments at Abdelmalek Essadi University particularly exciting because I have something of a relationship with that institution. I taught at the King Fahd School of Translation for 2 1/2 years which is a branch of the university, and because a close friends used to teach there.

The universities in Morocco have much more autonomy than they did when I was there, and it appears that the Abdelmalek Essadi, which has campuses in both Tetouan and Tangier, is one of the institutions that has taken greatest advantages of this.  It’s outgoing President, Mohammed Bennounna, has done much to transform the institution into one that is responsive to the rapidly changing economic and social realities of contemporary Morocco.  Representatives of the private sector at the seminar seemed quite impressed with what has been done, so it seems that the reform is, in fact, movement in the right direction.

Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane

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SAR Academic Freedom Media Review

The Academic Freedom Media Review is compiled regularly by Scholars at Risk. Here is the review for July 31-August 7, 2009

Police clash with Honduran students
BBC News, 8/5

Researcher Resists Coptic Pressure (in Arabic)
Ad-Dustour, 8/5

Shift in Middle East Studies?
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 8/4

Reforms to Women’s Education Make Slow Progress in Saudi Arabia
Andrew Mills, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/3

Scandals Lead to Promises of Reform in Australian International Education
Shailaja Neelakantan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/3
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IRAN: Iranian-American academic detained in Tehran
Jonathan Travis, University World News, 8/2

Barriers to Religious School Graduates lifted
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 8/2

NIGERIA: Supreme court reinstates sacked academics
Tunde Fatunde, University World News, 8/2

Professor Speaks on UN Arab Human Development Report 2009 (in Arabic)
Al-Fayhaa, 7/31

Note: For more about the United Nations Human Development Reports, see the UNDP site.

Maths and science to be taught in English – The National Newspaper

ABU DHABI–All pupils in state high schools will be taught maths and science in English by 2012, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) said yesterday.

At the launch of its 10-year strategic plan, Adec said it aimed to see pupils graduating with equal proficiency in English and Arabic.

In a concerted effort to turn out better qualified school-leavers, from this August the school day will also be extended by 90 minutes in all state high schools in the emirate. Pupils in all Abu Dhabi’s state schools will study for 10 extra days a year.

It follows the publication of results showing that only 13 per cent of applicants to federal universities scored enough in their English exams to bypass remedial courses.

via Maths and science to be taught in English – The National Newspaper.

Language of instruction is always a sensitive issue in the Arab  world for a number of reasons: practical, political and religious, among others.  Arabic is regarding by Muslims as a sacred language, the language in God revealed the Holy Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad, so for many it has a special status above all others.
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It also has a special status as an identity marker.  To speak Arabic was to resist colonial rule or cultural imperialism from the West.  And it is seen as a factor that unifies folks across the region beyond religious ties.  There are Muslim Arabs, there are Christian Arabs and their are even Arabic-speaking Jews.

Arabizing curricula is often a way of asserting a unique, independent identity.  That said, though, Arabization is quite controversial in places where there are minority populations that don’t speak Arabic as a native language.

English, on the other hand, is unquestionably the dominant world language at the moment and there is a certain practicality in acquiescing to that.

In terms of practicality, transforming the language of instruction is always difficult and some of the challenges are pointed out in this article.  Are teachers trained in one language capable of teaching a subject in another?  If you are changing a language of instruction, when do you do so?  Will the College student who was taught a subject in one language follow when they are taught in another?

It’s all very interesting.  I’ll be following how it goes.

Abstinence-Supporting GOP State Lawmaker Admits To Sex With 22-Year-Old Intern

Let me be perfectly clear.  I have little interest in the private lives of celebrities and other public figures.  I resent the way they are treated as news equal to events like the protests over the Iranian elections, the global economic crisis or the H1N1 virus.  I don’t think the sexual daliances of politicians or celebrities are anyone’s business outside the circle of family and friends immediately affected.

Unless, of course, the politician is one of those bent on regulating what other Americans do in their bedrooms or with their bodies.   Tennessee State Senator Paul Stanley is one of those.

He’s a solid conservative Republican and married father of two, who according to his website is “a member of Christ United Methodist Church, where he serves as a Sunday school teacher and board member of their day school.”…Stanley recently sponsored a bill designed to prevent gay couples from adopting children. And when a Planned Parenthood official recently sought his support for family planning services for Memphis teens, Stanley told her, according to the official, that he “didn’t believe young people should have sex before marriage anyway, that his faith and church are important to him, and he wants to promote abstinence.”

But Senator Stanley has

admitted to having a “sexual relationship” with a 22-year-old female intern working in his office, and to taking nude pictures of her in “provocative poses” in his apartment.

He also
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works as a financial adviser for the Stanford Financial Group, whose founder, Allen Stanford, has been charged with orchestrating an $8 billion scam.

There are more delightful tidbits about Stanley’s life in the article from TPMMuckraker.  It’s rather Jerry Springer, in fact.  But you can read it there.

My point here is that once again this unbeliever finds himself quoting scripture to those “pious” souls who would regulate everyone by their own standards of morality.  “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone.” John 8 1-11.  Or perhaps ““Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6: 36-38) Then there is How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Luke 6: 42)

Or maybe just some good old fashioned fold wisdom.  “Practice what you preach!  (and what you want to compel others to practice, too!)

Morocco abounds with entertaining and creative festivals

This article dates all the way back to September or last year, but I just discovered it again.  It symbolizes a much more important change than it might seem at first because since independence the central government has attempted to impose a homogeneous identity on the people of the nation.

This policy not only failed to recognize minority rights in some abstract sense, but that also ensured that getting an education was more difficult for minority populations, that those who were not educated in Arabic (or French) were always at the mercy of those who were, that public health and other messages never reached a sizable portions of the population, etc.   Surprisingly, as people begin more enfranchised, you see a that there was never any need to force a sense of national unity through language policy and such.  By and large, Moroccans are proud to be Moroccan.

The other take away from this?  There is a lot going on in Morocco, so book a ticket and go.  You won’t regret it.
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Morocco abounds with entertaining and creative festivals.

As the number of festivals grows each year in Morocco, the Ministry of Culture is handing the reins of festival organisation and management over to civil society and regional authorities.

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