One of the biggest decisions parents will help their children make is choosing a university. For families in the Arab region, this can mean sending a child across the border to another country in the Middle East or North Africa.
Parents who have made that choice cite academic options, costs and career opportunities among the reasons they sent their children overseas. Here are four things for families to consider when exploring higher education options in another Arab region country.
1. Explore curriculums and communities tied to one’s home country: After finishing high school in Syria, Nawaar Abu Zeid daydreamed about becoming a lawyer but wasn’t admitted to Damascus University. Abu Zeid’s father, Ibrahim, thoroughly researched universities in the region and encouraged Abu Zeid to enroll in Ain Shams University in Egypt.
“I couldn’t afford a private university in Lebanon or Jordan. Ain Shams has a good reputation for teaching law, many Syrian professors have graduated from Cairo-based colleges and Egyptian civil law is similar to Syrian. A degree from Egypt will prepare my son to become a practicing lawyer in Syria,” says Ibrahim.
“Law professors in Damascus advised to pursue Egyptian universities, where Arabic is the language of instruction and Syrian transcripts are accepted. Egyptian law curricula is similar to Syrian — Syrian and Egyptian civil laws originate from French law,” he says.
See how [Arab universities are preparing students for law careers.]
For Ibrahim, there were many other positives to his son attending Ain Shams University. Living expenses in Egypt are relatively affordable, for example, and many Syrians who fled war settled in Egypt.
The Syrian community has a Facebook page called Khatwa — Arabic for “a step” — aimed at advising Syrian students about choosing and registering for a university in Egypt.
2. Seek a multicultural environment: For Wafaa, an Algerian student who preferred only to give her first name, convincing her parents to allow her to leave home to study in Lebanon was quite difficult. Yet, she was persistent, asked family members to mediate and went to study in Beirut. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Beirut Arab University.
“I liked the open-minded culture in Beirut, that makes me better understand other cultures and advances my career,” she says. Studying in Arabic made it easy for her, and the experience of living abroad made her more independent, self-motivated and hardworking, Wafaa says.
See which schools topped the [2015 Best Arab Region Universities rankings.]
It is common for public university professors in Algeria to take higher-paying second jobs teaching at private universities and therefore be less committed to the public university position. In contrast, Wafaa notes, “At the BAU, professors, mostly Egyptians, are distinguished, committed to lectures and active in their careers.” For her, having committed professors was a huge draw to going to school outside of Algeria.
“Lebanon is very diverse. I had colleagues from Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia, even from Iran. In my class there were Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Muslims,” says Wafaa, who identifies herself as a Sunni Muslim. That diversity expanded her horizons to new cultures and religions and helped her understand politics in different countries.
Wafaa is now three months away from completing her doctoral studies at the University of Algiers, and her parents’ opinion of her choices has changed. “They are proud of me as the only one in the family to be in academia,” Wafaa says.
3. Research universities in countries with booming economies and job opportunities: After graduating from law school in Egypt in the 1980s, Egyptian citizen Mohamed Said worked in a low-paying job. Today, he is encouraging his son to study in the United Arab Emirates to avoid facing a similar challenge. Educational institutions in the UAE enjoy close relationships with the booming business sectors and he is likelier to find a well-paying job as a result.
“I spoke with my son about job opportunities in renewable energy if he gets enrolled in one of the UAE universities. Around 85 percent of the workforce comes from abroad and the four-year degree there is likely to open up work opportunities,” says Said.
After researching Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, Said helped his son better understand the university’s specialties and the undergraduate application process, which is similar to universities in the West.
“My son is shortlisted and will be interviewed soon,” Said says.
Several universities in the UAE, including the United Arab Emirates University, offer training programs that connect students with Emirati companies for work after graduation.
In Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan University works with the “Injaz” initiative to train the university’s students and prepare them for the job market. The nonprofit educational institution connects the private sector with schools.
Find out how [Arab universities are adapting to a changing regional job market.]
4. Weigh political stability, along with costs : Moustafa Kahled, a Libyan citizen, preferred for his son Ibrahim to study translation at the American University of Madaba Faculty of Languages and Communication in Jordan.
“Jordan has more stability than Libya or Egypt, where political turmoil after the Arab Spring has impacted the quality of education,” says Kahled.
A combination of political stability, affordable living costs and the quality of education made the school strikingly appealing. Kahled encouraged his son to ask for scholarships, leading to Ibrahim earning a partial scholarship.
“AUM’s tuition fees are affordable. Its instruction language is exclusively in English, which is necessary for my son to develop his English-language skills,” he says.
See the complete rankings of the Best Arab Region Universities.
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4 Factors for Parents to Weigh About Overseas Arab Universities originally appeared on usnews.com
