Tadween Roundup: News and Analysis in Publishing and Academia from the Arab World

News and stories with a focus on the publishing industry, education, and technology from across the Arab world.

Information Technologies and Education in the Arab World
By Rayna Stamboliyska (Nature)

UNESCO released the first report to focus on the implementation of ICT (information and communication technology) education across the Arab world, focusing on Egypt, Jordan, Oman, the Occupied Palestinian Territories (West Bank only), and Qatar. While examining student access to technology and the Internet, UNESCO found that there is an average of 120 pupils for every computer in Egyptian primary schools, making Egypt the clear outlier. Despite all five countries having policies for ICT in education, the report claims that the policies do not extend into the classroom.

A Review of Citizenship Education in Arab Nations
By Muhammad Faour (Carnegie Middle East Center)

Carnegie Middle East Center’s Muhammad Faour examines the gap between the education goals of Arab countries and their implementation in the classroom. According to the report, despite promises for educational reform by countries across the Arab world, few steps have been taken to implement said promises and schools remain “generally authoritarian and repressive.”

How do we read the Arab world today? Not via traditional Egyptian academia, say professors
Mohammed Saad (Ahram Online)

A conference at the American University in Cairo opens the debate over how to read the Arab world, inspired by a new book titled How do we read the Arab World Today: Alternative Views in Social Sciences. According to panelists, the narrow focus of Egyptian academia in recent decades has made it difficult to comprehend and accurately interpret the changes currently taking place in Arab society.

Rethinking Education in the Gulf States
Mohammad Alrumaihi (Gulf News)

Mohammad Alrumaihi laments about the deteriorating education in the Gulf, arguing that society as a whole is to blame. Alrumaihi argues that, “for the most part, free education has become just a means to spend time between childhood and finding a job, nothing more or less.”

Palestinian exile refuses to be boxed in
Matthew Reisz (Times Higher Education)

Times Higher Education profiles academic and artist Bashir Makhoul and his new art project, the struggle to discuss Palestinian identity in Western universities, and the exclusion of Palestine from the international art scene.

First Woman President of an Iraqi University Appointed to Serve at the American University of Iraq
(PRWEB)

The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) announced on 28 May 2013 that Dr. Dawn Dekle has been elected to serve as the first woman president of AUIS.