Hi, PM! I just realized I never responded to this post.
"The bottom line is you are still drawing from a pool of students who frequently have not had access to quality primary and secondary education (especially if they attended Arabic institutions); have rarely had much experience with critical thinking; have underdeveloped analytical skills; and are, after all, pursuing a university degree in what is most often a second language."
Indeed.
We have also made some adaptations like the ones you mention. Small class sizes, a ridiculously low student-faculty ratio, and hiring a lot of academic support personnel (like me) are all efforts to help students make up for lost time, so to speak. Our main campus doesn't even have a writing center, but one was opened here because it was acknowledged that students here might need extra academic support -- not because they are themselves deficient, but because they haven't had all the advantages that the average Pittsburgh applicant has.
"The proof is in the successful employment of our graduates in lucrative and challenging positions both here in Qatar and internationally"
We haven't graduated any students yet, but I think we're all very anxious to see what happens when we do! :-)
"In my opinion an educationally emerging society requires an emphasis on teaching first and if you have a faculty who is most concerned about research, promotion and earning their, chances are that TEACHING is going to come in dead last."
A friend of mine commented that he thinks the level of teaching on this campus may in fact be higher than the level on the home campus, simply because so many classes taught on the home campus are taught by researchers who are forced to interact with undergraduates against their will. ;-)
"...professors have no qualms about expressing their disdain for Qatar and the desire to get out after a year or two of collecting fat paycheck with a tax-free bonus"
Wow. I've never heard that. How horrifying!
"What would you think if a student told you that their professors don't control the classroom environment to prevent cell phone interruptions and students milling about during lecture and they have a hard time hearing or concentrating?"
Heh. I may know who you're talking about. I think that new professors over here -- particularly in 2004 -- sometimes overcompensated for cultural concerns. One in particular decided that if our students live in a polychronic culture, we shouldn't impose our monochronic expectations on them. I don't think any other professors have accepted that behavior, and as a result I don't think our students display it any more. (Tell me if I'm wrong.)
"Consider my disappointment when I discovered that neither uni followed up with any Honor Council disciplinary action...."
That's rather horrifying, and I deeply hope CMU wasn't one of them.
"However, there is still so much to be done that we must not turn away defensively from the criticism leveled at us."
I agree -- that's why I linked to this article at all. I don't think the author had all his info straight, but I do think some critical questions ought to be asked of the universities here. And if we are doing what we claim to be doing, we shouldn't shy away from people thinking critically about anything, including us. :-)
Re: Regarding VCU and Geaorgetown
"The bottom line is you are still drawing from a pool of students who frequently have not had access to quality primary and secondary education (especially if they attended Arabic institutions); have rarely had much experience with critical thinking; have underdeveloped analytical skills; and are, after all, pursuing a university degree in what is most often a second language."
Indeed.
We have also made some adaptations like the ones you mention. Small class sizes, a ridiculously low student-faculty ratio, and hiring a lot of academic support personnel (like me) are all efforts to help students make up for lost time, so to speak. Our main campus doesn't even have a writing center, but one was opened here because it was acknowledged that students here might need extra academic support -- not because they are themselves deficient, but because they haven't had all the advantages that the average Pittsburgh applicant has.
"The proof is in the successful employment of our graduates in lucrative and challenging positions both here in Qatar and internationally"
We haven't graduated any students yet, but I think we're all very anxious to see what happens when we do! :-)
"In my opinion an educationally emerging society requires an emphasis on teaching first and if you have a faculty who is most concerned about research, promotion and earning their, chances are that TEACHING is going to come in dead last."
A friend of mine commented that he thinks the level of teaching on this campus may in fact be higher than the level on the home campus, simply because so many classes taught on the home campus are taught by researchers who are forced to interact with undergraduates against their will. ;-)
"...professors have no qualms about expressing their disdain for Qatar and the desire to get out after a year or two of collecting fat paycheck with a tax-free bonus"
Wow. I've never heard that. How horrifying!
"What would you think if a student told you that their professors don't control the classroom environment to prevent cell phone interruptions and students milling about during lecture and they have a hard time hearing or concentrating?"
Heh. I may know who you're talking about. I think that new professors over here -- particularly in 2004 -- sometimes overcompensated for cultural concerns. One in particular decided that if our students live in a polychronic culture, we shouldn't impose our monochronic expectations on them. I don't think any other professors have accepted that behavior, and as a result I don't think our students display it any more. (Tell me if I'm wrong.)
"Consider my disappointment when I discovered that neither uni followed up with any Honor Council disciplinary action...."
That's rather horrifying, and I deeply hope CMU wasn't one of them.
"However, there is still so much to be done that we must not turn away defensively from the criticism leveled at us."
I agree -- that's why I linked to this article at all. I don't think the author had all his info straight, but I do think some critical questions ought to be asked of the universities here. And if we are doing what we claim to be doing, we shouldn't shy away from people thinking critically about anything, including us. :-)