Full Description
Presenting an analysis of higher education in eight countries in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, Degrees of Dignity works to dismantle narratives of crisis and assert approaches to institutional reform. Drawing on policy documents, media narratives, interviews, and personal experiences, Elizabeth Buckner explores how apolitical external reform models become contested and modified by local actors in ways that are simultaneously complicated, surprising, and even inspiring.Degrees of Dignity documents how the global discourses of neoliberalism have legitimized specific policy models for higher education reform in the Arab world, including quality assurance, privatization, and internationalization. Through a multi-level and comparative analysis, this book examines how policy models are implemented, with often complex results, in countries throughout the region.Ultimately, Degrees of Dignity calls on the field of higher education development to rethink current approaches to higher education reform: rather than viewing the Arab world as a site for intervention, it argues that the Arab world can act as a source for insight on resilient higher education systems.
Contents
TablesFigures1. IntroductionHigher Education and the Arab State in the Global EraThe Limits of Technical ApproachesA Multi-Level and Comparative Approach The Global Arena in Education and DevelopmentReconstituting the LocalLocal Contestation, Power, and PrivilegeData and AnalysisOrganization of the BookDegrees of Dignity: Towards A New NarrativeReferences2. The University and the Arab WorldIntroductionEarly Models of Islamic Higher EducationThe European InfluenceIndependence and Nation-BuildingThe Global EraOverview of Higher Education SystemsEgypt and the Levant (Syria, Jordan and Lebanon)Francophone North Africa (Morocco and Tunisia)The Arab Gulf States (Qatar and the UAE)Global Models, Localized ApproachesReferences3. Sorting Students, Determining FatesIntroductionAccess for AllThe Exit Exam as MeritocracyCriticisms of Centralized and Exam-Based AdmissionsThe Social Consequences of ExamsPrivate TutoringThe Implications of CheatingThwarted Ambitions'Exceptions' and the Political Calculus of Admissions in JordanPrivatizing PathwaysHigher Education in the Arab Gulf StatesPaying for Access in Lebanon's Privatized SystemHigher Education Admissions and State LegitimacyReferences4. The Question of QualityIntroductionThe Global Race for QualityThe CrisisThe Technical Approach to QualityQuality Assurance as SolutionThe World Bank and the Knowledge EconomyEuropeanization in North AfricaRelying on External Advice in the Arab GulfThe Limits of Quality AssuranceQuality and The Linguistic HierarchyReconsidering Higher Education and the Labor MarketReconsidering the CredentialRedefining Excellence as Both Political and PersonalReferences5. Privatizing the Public GoodIntroductionThe Growth of Private Higher EducationApolitical PrivatizationThe Right to Free Public Higher Education Selective Public Sector Subsidies"Selling Degrees"Exacerbating InequalitiesThe Private Sector and The Public Good?References6. Internationalizing the National UniversityIntroductionThe Internationalization ImperativePeople on the Move: Student and Scholarly MobilityBilateral Scholarship ProgramsInternational StudentsProvider Mobility: Importing ExcellenceInternationalization as a National Project References7. Between Knowledge and TruthIntroductionThe University and the Knowledge Society"Far from Innovative"Academic Researchers as Knowledge ProducersIgnoring the Structural RealitiesInvesting in Science and Research ProductionNational Science Policy Regimes"Publications Have Soared" in QatarThe Doha Institute's "Different Approach"The Hollow Discourse of ProductivityAcademic FreedomBetween Knowledge and TruthReferencesConclusion: Rethinking Higher Education and DevelopmentRe-politicizing DevelopmentLearning from, not about, the Arab WorldReferences
