In the discussion, "Reviving Aristotle in Arabia: Promoting the Liberal Arts in the Gulf Region," two Dartmouth students interning at AUK this term, Larry Bowman '11 and Nicholas Knezek ' 12, along with two AUK students explored the practical and cultural challenges of establishing a liberal arts curriculum at AUK. The students also discussed making the philosophy of a liberal arts education relevant in the Gulf region. Matthew Forman '11, who spent last Fall in Kuwait, moderated the panel.
By law, all private universities in the state of Kuwait are required to have international partner institutions. AUK, founded in 2003, chose Dartmouth as its partner institution "because of [Dartmouth's] liberal arts focus," according to a College press release. The relationship between Dartmouth and AUK has been extended until at least 2013.
Anthropology professor Dale Eickelman '64, who serves as the relationship coordinator for the Dartmouth-AUK project, has organized video conferences between students at Dartmouth and AUK as part of the partnership.
"We have held video conferences with AUK to share classes, initiate an ongoing collaboration between the AUK Writing Center and Dartmouth's Institute for Writing and Rhetoric and to share student views," Eickelman said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "[As] part of a growing list of collaborative activities between AUK and Dartmouth, they demonstrate that globalization is reciprocal, unpredictable and dissolves boundaries of geography and time."
Most other universities in Kuwait and the region subscribe heavily to the traditional learning method of memorization and regurgitation, according to Forman.
The curriculum at AUK focuses less on memorization and encourages students "explore a specific idea, create arguments and express their thoughts in writing," Forman said.
As a newly established institution, however, AUK is still struggling to define its learning environment, Forman said, adding that there may be "cultural forces working against the AUK."
For example, classrooms at AUK are segregated by gender, although men and women are allowed to interact freely outside of the classrooms. Forman said he believes gender segregation may not be the best policy for AUK to pursue in the long run, because "learning takes place both in and out of the classrooms."
Forman is one of more than 20 Dartmouth undergraduates who have held internships at AUK since 2005.
While at AUK, Forman's responsibilities included working on the Arabian Heritage Project, a cultural preservation center at the university, according to its website. He also led a reading group in an intensive English program and helped with Voice of AUK, AUK's student newspaper, Forman said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The main challenge of living and working in Kuwait was learning to be culturally sensitive in a very different social environment, Forman said.
Forman's interactions with AUK students and his experiences working in Kuwait helped to "[break] down some of the notions that [he had received] from the media," specifically those pertaining to the Middle East, he said.
Forman said he met an Iraqi student at AUK who described the 2003 American invasion of Iraq as "one of the best days of [his] life," because he felt that the American troops were stationed there to provide safety and security to his community.
Nur Soliman, a senior at AUK who interned at the Hood Museum of Art and audited geography and art classes at Dartmouth last Summer, said she learned what it "[meant] to be a liberal arts student" during her stay in Hanover.
"Dartmouth has a very diverse academic environment," Soliman said during the panel. "The behavior of Dartmouth students are very different from that of AUK students."
As part of the partnership, Dartmouth students can apply for internships in various academic departments at AUK. In exchange, AUK students travel to Dartmouth for internships over the Summer terms, according to Laurel Stavis, executive director of the Dartmouth-American University of Kuwait Project.
According to Stavis, four students from AUK will be coming to Dartmouth this Summer. The internship exchanges between the two institutions are mutually beneficial, Stavis said.
The program allows Dartmouth students to experience the cultural challenges of living in the Middle East as well as allowing AUK students to benefit from the established liberal arts curriculum at Dartmouth during their stay in Hanover, Stavis said.
At present AUK, which is still "seen as Kuwaiti to Americans and American to Kuwaitis," faces the challenge of finding a comfortable "middle ground" that provides the best learning environment to the AUK students, Forman said.
