1st Edition
The Past, Present, and Future of Higher Education in the Arabian Gulf Region Critical Comparative Perspectives in a Neoliberal Era
This edited volume contributes a novel understanding of the past, present and future of higher education across the six countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Against the backdrop of intense political, ideological and epistemological disruptions across the Arabian Gulf Region over the last two decades, this volume adopts critical comparative perspectives in order to chart the history, present-day and future realities of higher education in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. By focusing on dynamics relating to neoliberalism, and using the notions of ‘tensionality’ and ‘locality’ to situate topics such as curricula, policies, practices, the volume engages with current discourses, controversies and themes such as the internationalization and marketization of higher education in these countries. In doing so, the book offers a theoretical framework to enable greater understanding of the contemporary functioning of higher education in the Arabian Gulf Region.
This text will benefit scholars, academics and students in the fields of higher education and international and comparative education more broadly. Those involved with educational policy and politics, and Middle Eastern studies in general, will also benefit from this volume.
Introduction: The Pulse of Higher Education in the Arabian Gulf
Awad Ibrahim and Osman Z. Barnawi
Part 1: Critical Historical Archaeology of Higher Education in the GCC
1. Seven Decades of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia: A Foucauldian Genealogy
Abdullah Alshakhi
2. The History of Higher Education in Kuwait
Abbas Al-Shammari
3. A Historical Archaeology of Higher Education in the Sultanate of Oman: A Critical Social and Education Policy Perspective
Ali M. Al-Issa and Noor Al-Najjar
4. History of Higher Education in Qatar: A Genealogy
Wafaa Morsy and Awad Ibrahim
5. The Coming of Age in UAE Higher Education: The March of the Young Nation to a Postmodern Era
Negmeldin Omer Alsheikh
6. Higher Education in Bahrain: Current Trends, Successes, Challenges and Future Possibilities
Paul MacLeod
Part 2: Higher Education in the Arabian Gulf Region Today
7. Development of Higher Education in Bahrain
Aizhan Shomotova and Tatiana Karabchuk
8. Higher Education in Saudi Arabia: A Vehicle for Global Promotion and Advancement
Sulaiman Jenkins
9. Development of the Higher Education in the UAE: Challenges and Current Achievements
Aizhan Shomotova and Tatiana Karabchuk
10. Negotiating between Cultural and Academic Values: Undergraduate Education Choices and Divisions in the State of Qatar
Sara Hillman
11. Development of the Higher Education System in Kuwait
Aizhan Shomotova and Tatiana Karabchuk
12. Higher Education in the Sultanate of Oman Today
Fatma Al Kaf and Ali M. Al-Issa
Part 3: Comparing, Contrasting and Projecting a Future of Higher Education in the Arabian Gulf
13. Epilogue: The Pulse of the Development of Higher Education across the Gulf Countries in the Era of Neoliberalism: Conclusion, Limitations and Future Prospects
Habib Bouagada
Biography
Awad Ibrahim is Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Canada.
Osman Z. Barnawi is Professor at the Royal Commission Colleges and Institutes, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
