Middle East Education Activities in the News
There really is a lot of buzz lately about the Middle East, particularly the Gulf states. And no wonder — with a rising middle class estimated at over 350M families and massive new investments in both research, education, and economic development, there is a growing sense that the Gulf region, at least, could undergo major changes over the next decade or two. Of particular interest to us is the fact that US higher education is so highly prized in the region, which presents both opportunities and challenges for our university.
On both Sunday and Monday, the New York Times had interesting articles about US universities involved in higher education efforts in the Middle East. Carnegie Mellon is mentioned in both articles. The Sunday article in the NY Times Education section focuses on the rush by US universities (including ours) to set up education programs in the Middle East, and the difficulties involved in doing this.
The Monday NY Times article is impressively long and detailed, and focuses on the Education City project in Qatar. Our CMU operation there is featured prominently, with lots of quotes by a number of CMU faculty and students. Some of the interesting cultural issues we’ve encountered are highlighted here.
Later this spring, when KAUST, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, announces its first round of “Global Research Partnerships”, undoubtedly there will be yet another flurry of major press coverage. Something to watch, as we may again be a part of it. Research initiatives in Qatar are also starting, which again may involve CMU in a significant way.
All of this press interest comes at a critical time for our operation in Qatar. We are in our fourth year in Qatar, looking forward to our first graduating class of both Computer Science and Business Administration majors. For some of the faculty we’ve hired in Qatar, this will also be the first year of faculty reappointment decisions. In effect, this is a kind of “graduation year” for some of our faculty who are stationed there.
While the program has been difficult for us to implement, it appears that there has been steady improvement each year, and with the new graduates and the faculty reviews, we’ll get our first real chance to see some results. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they come out looking good.
I’m guardedly optimistic. Have we gotten to where we want to be? No, not yet. But if the steady improvement continues for another four years or more, I think we’ll be in good shape, assuming that the CS enrollments (which have been dropping) improve.
Peter Lee @ February 13, 2008