|
These are the proceedings of a colloquium held at the American
University of Beirut in 1980. The papers presented discuss the problems faced
by higher education in the Arab world, especially those of coping with an
expanding number of students wishing to enter universities and colleges, and of
preparing adequately for rapidly changing conditions in the Arab world. Looked
at from the right perspective, extension education can solve many problems and
help many people learn skills that they cannot get elsewhere. The special
importance of extension education in meeting some of the demands of modern Arab
societies cannot be overstressed; it represents a new dimension of bridging the gap
between traditional universities and the technical/professional institutions.
About the Author
One of the veterans of the AUB
faculty, Munir Bashshur, joined the University as professor of education
in 1964 and, with single-minded purpose as to his professional future, has not
looked back since. Right after completing his PhD in comparative education at
the University of Chicago, he had married the American girl he had fallen in
love with and together they immediately embarked for Beirut to begin their life
there.
To Bashshur, AUB is home ("a great home," he says). Before going to
the U.S. to pursue his postgraduate studies, he had earned both his BA in
English literature and his MA in education at AUB.
When he chose
to write his doctoral dissertation on "The Role of Two Western Universities
(the American University of Beirut and the St. Joseph University) in the
National Life of Lebanon and the Middle East," it was as though a die had been
cast – as though he was sure even then that he would return to AUB and
that other academic studies of a similar nature would follow.
|
|
|
Century (Beirut: Nelson Publishers, 1995). In addition are the
many papers he has written for publication or presented at conferences in
Lebanon and abroad. He has just completed a study for the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), which will appear in its Second Arab Human
Development Report in 2004 and is titled "Patterns of Education in Arab
Countries and Their Contribution to Knowledge."
Bashshur's concern to help
improve standards of education in the Arab world goes beyond writing on the
subject. It has led to his ongoing engagement in a good number of development
activities that have involved on-the-spot consultations with education
officials in various countries throughout the region, as well as in Lebanon. To
cite a few examples, he advised Saudi Arabia on revising its social studies
curriculum; studied and evaluated educational conditions in Bahrain; assisted
Dubai in establishing a school, including setting its procedures and curricula;
and served for three years as a UNICEF consultant to Yemen on enhancing the
education of girls in the country's rural areas.
In summing up the
achievements of his life, Bashshur declares without hesitation and in this
order: "The family I raised, the articles and books I wrote and the students I
taught." Clearly, the world of Bashshur revolves around the two magnet planets
of family and education. But he is still pulled by a few other interests that
round out his life and make up his identity as an individual. They are
literature, sociology and politics, as well as the gratifying pleasure of
gardening and watching things grow and blossom. |
 |
|
