Undergraduate Research in International Contexts

2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-34
Author(s):  
Hassan Belhiah
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Internationalization Of Higher Education ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
English Departments ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Abstract This article seeks to contribute to our understanding of the challenges and opportunities afforded by undergraduate research in the context of changing English departments in international contexts. English has been witnessing unprecedented growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region thanks to globalization, the Internet, and the internationalization of higher education. In this article, I reflect on my experience with undergraduate research in the MENA region, focusing on the challenges I had encountered and strategies for engendering a successful undergraduate research experience.

Higher Education and Philanthropy Potential in the GCC States

2016 ◽  
pp. 109-143
Author(s):  
Henry C. Alphin Jr. ◽  
Jennie Lavine
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Large Role ◽  
Venture Philanthropy ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Higher Educational ◽  
Educational Options

In this chapter we aim to discuss the opportunities for FDI and venture philanthropy in higher education for the Middle East and North Africa. The MENA region has gathered interest due to the large population and increasing governmental influence on improving higher education in general in the region, and creating partnerships with organizations to better match higher educational options and employment. The GCC plays a large role in the impetus of foreign institutes wanting to invest in the economically developing MENA region. There are many challenges to overcome, some of which are great enough to discourage FDI; but overlooking the initial challenges, there are a wealth of opportunities awaiting exploration.

scholarly journals Online Temptations: COVID-19 and Religious Misinformation in the MENA Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512094825
Author(s):  
Mahsa Alimardani ◽  
Mona Elswah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Social Media Platforms

During the coronavirus pandemic, religious misinformation has been found on social media platforms causing fear, confusion, and polluting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s online sphere. Exploring cases of religious clickbait in the form of false hadiths and viral religious advice from religious figures entrenched in the MENA’s political elite, this essay discusses how new dynamics for religion in the age of the Internet are contributing to a uniquely regional and religious form of misinformation. This essay looks at how the phenomenon of religious misinformation is a defining characteristic of the MENA’s online sphere, becoming even more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Middle East Survey Course: Challenges and Opportunities

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-30
Author(s):  
Ziad Abu-Rish
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Research Funding ◽  
Public University ◽  
Major Research ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Course Enrollment ◽  
Course Scheduling ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
History Of

The production and dissemination of knowledge on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has always had a particularly complex relationship vis-à-vis research funding, faculty hiring priorities, course scheduling schemas, and course enrollment numbers. In this essay, I hope to share some observations—that I have experienced firsthand and discussed with a number of colleagues—on teaching an introductory survey course on the history of the modern MENA region. Such reflections are rooted in my own experience of teaching at a public university with no current major research or teaching commitments to the MENA region. While these observations are not unique to the context within which I teach, they might be otherwise inflected in different contexts.

Promoting Case-Based Learning in Business Higher Education in the Middle East and North Africa Region

2021 ◽  
pp. 105256292110621
Author(s):  
Nizar Becheikh ◽  
Maha Mourad ◽  
Ahmed Tolba
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Case Based Learning ◽  
Case Based

The case method has made inroads as a pedagogical tool that can sharpen students’ analytical skills and better prepare them for the reality awaiting them professionally. Despite its deep-seated origins in the West, the case method remains underused in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The purpose of this study is to explore the main challenges that MENA business higher education institutions face in effecting case-based learning and the key initiatives that may help in addressing them. Building on our extensive experience with case studies production and teaching in the MENA context, and a pioneering exploratory research involving 40 instructors, students, and administrators from three leading business schools in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, we shed new light on the skills and contextual challenges that MENA business higher education institutions encounter when implementing the case method. We also propose a framework that integrates a wide range of initiatives to promote case-based learning in MENA. At the heart of this framework is the “community building” effort advocated as a catalyst to support case writing, teaching, solving, and publishing, as well as the development of a culture conducive to an effective deployment of the case method in the specific MENA context.

Towards a Paradigm Shift in Higher Education in the MENA Region

2014 ◽  
pp. 8-30
Author(s):  
Hayat Al-Khatib
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
The World ◽  
Knowledge And Technology Transfer

Higher education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has not been able to deliver the needed knowledge and technology transfer to generate productivity and innovation in this part of the world (Arab Economic and Social Summit, 2009; Thomson and Reuters, 2007). Youth unemployment in the MENA region remains the highest in the world, with the Middle East rating 21% and North Africa rating 25%, out of whom one-third are university graduates (World Bank, 2013). The chapter aims to address issues pertaining to the need to shift perspective in higher education in the MENA region, in the light of its growing importance as a developing entity with natural and human resources. The chapter identifies the role of higher education, in policies and practice, in addressing the needs of the region and transforming its resources, human and physical, to further its economic development.

Transitions Within Queer North African Cinema

Screen Bodies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter S. Temple
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Film Festivals ◽  
Global Awareness ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
North African ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
African Cinema ◽  
Queer Cinema

In recent years, North African queer cinema has become increasingly visible both within and beyond Arabo-Orientale spaces. A number of critical factors have contributed to a global awareness of queer identities in contemporary Maghrebi cinema, including the dissemination of films through social media outlets and during international film festivals. Such tout contemporain representations of queer sexuality characterize a robust wave of films in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, inciting a new discourse on the condition of the marginalized traveler struggling to locate new forms of self and being—both at home and abroad.

scholarly journals Influence of COVID-19 on lifestyle behaviors in the Middle East and North Africa Region: a survey of 5896 individuals

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Abouzid ◽  
◽  
Dina M. El-Sherif ◽  
Nael Kamel Eltewacy ◽  
Nesrine Ben Hadj Dahman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Eating Habits ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected health and lifestyle behaviors of people globally. This project aims to identify the impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle behavior of individuals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during confinement. Methods We conducted an online survey in 17 countries (Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, and Sudan) from the MENA region on August and September 2020. The questionnaire included self-reported information on lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity, eating habits, smoking, watching television, social media use and sleep before and during the pandemic. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on lifestyle behaviors. Results A total of 5896 participants were included in the final analysis and 62.8% were females. The BMI of the participants was 25.4 ± 5.8 kg/m2. Around 38.4% of the participants stopped practicing any physical activities during the confinement (P < 0.001), and 57.1% reported spending more than 2 h on social media (P < 0.001). There were no significant changes in smoking habits. Also, 30.9% reported an improvement in their eating habits compared with 24.8% reported worsening of their eating habits. Fast-food consumption decreased significantly in 48.8% of the study population. This direct/indirect exposure to COVID-19 was associated with an increased consumption of carbohydrates (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.02–1.17; P = 0.01), egg (OR = 1.08; 95% CI = 1.02–1.16; P = 0.01), sugar (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.02–1.16; P = 0.02), meat, and poultry (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.06–1.20; P < 0.01). There was also associated increase in hours spent on watching television (OR = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.02–1.12; P < 0.01) and social media (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.01–1.18; P = 0.03). However, our results showed a reduction in sleeping hours among those exposed to COVID-19 infection (OR = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.77–0.94; P < 0.01). Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in food consumption and sedentary life. Being exposed to COVID-19 by direct infection or through an infected household is a significant predictor of amplifying these changes. Public health interventions are needed to address healthy lifestyle behaviors during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Party systems and ideological cleavages in the Middle East and North Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406881989429
Author(s):  
Abdullah Aydogan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Mena Countries

Previous studies have contrasted the political party systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with those in more democratic countries, raising three important points: (1) the religious–secular dimension, rather than the economic or social left–right, explains the underlying political party competition; (2) left-wing politics is relatively weaker than right-wing politics; and (3) parties that are traditionally known as rightist take left-leaning positions on numerous issue dimensions, and vice versa. Even though this particular literature on party politics in the MENA has greatly improved our understanding of political dynamics in the region, these studies have either lacked quantitative evidence to support these points or their evidence was limited to single-country cases. This study aims to address this issue by analyzing original expert survey data of the ideological positions of political parties in the MENA region. Results show that in addition to the religious–secular dimension, the economic left–right divide and the pace of political reforms are highly important dimensions. The study also provides numerous examples showing that the policy stances of leftist and rightist parties are significantly reversed when MENA countries are compared with more developed democracies.

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