"I am a great advocate of bilingual programs, but these hardly exist."Īl Faour says his program has allowed him to participate in training in the local courts, which operate in Arabic, and says as a non-Emirati he can work as a legal adviser or at a bank or law office - establishments that often cater to Arabic-speaking clients. "By contrast, Arabic-only programs tend to use 'obsoletish' material, uninspiring methods of teaching and traditional testing that depends on rote learning," said Majdoubeh. He said in general, English-only programs are better as their curriculum is more up-to-date, they employ more sophisticated faculty and have a more global outlook and challenging learning environment. The same applies to English-only curricula." "Some Arabic-only curricula at Arab universities are both robust and outstanding, and some are not. "It all depends on the nature and quality of the individual program that one wishes to join and the precise purpose and quality of the learner," said Majdoubeh, who has also worked at the University of Jordan.
Majdoubeh, a professor of English literature and dean at the Arab Open University in Kuwait, said in an email that students should weigh the quality of the institution, teaching staff and learning environment, as well as the nature of the subject studied and its market need, before choosing between Arabic and English instruction. In its school of communication, the American University in Dubai offers an English-only and a dual language program.Īhmad Y. In 2012, the Supreme Education Council in Qatar decreed that Arabic would become the language of instruction at Qatar University, though some programs like engineering remain in English. In the Arab region, universities instruct in English, Arabic and in some cases, both languages.Īmerican-style universities, such as the American University of Beirut and American University in Cairo, use English as their medium of instruction. "Arabic is a hard language for me," says Qabille, whose native tongue is English.