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CMENAS Fall Colloquium. Higher Ed between Debate and Innovation

Rahmi Oruç & Önder Kucukural, Ibn Haldun University (Turkey); Mohd Nishat Faisal, Fauzia Jabeen, Marios Katsioloudes, Abu Dhabi University (UAE), American University of Cyprus (Cyprus), Qatar University (Qatar)
Monday, November 7, 2022
12:00-2:00 PM
Virtual
2022 CMENAS Fall Colloquium: Higher Education & Reformation across the MENA: A Geopolitical Exploration

“Higher Ed between Debate and Innovation”

Rahmi Oruç & Önder Kucukural, Ibn Haldun University (Turkey): Adab in Dialogue: Developing Argumentative Virtues in a Divided World via the Munazara Engagement Model (MEM)

In this talk, we introduce the ADAB project. The project takes its name and draws from the Ādāb al-Baḥth wa-l Munāẓara. Serving among the instrumental disciplines an aspiring scholar must master in their journey to knowledge and virtue, Munāẓara emerged as a synthesis of Aristotelian analytics and Muslim ethics at the end of the 13th century. ADAB aims to develop a new argumentative engagement model and implement it in contemporary university debates. Institutionalizing through tournaments and the attendant debate clubs, university debates are one key component of modern higher education. However, as we all witness in our contemporary societies, deep disagreements have hijacked the public space to the extent that we hesitate whether public deliberation and argumentation can provide any remedy. Nevertheless, considering the high levels of polarization that sometimes fuel violence, the dismal state of public debating should not discourage us from rethinking virtuous interaction and prospects of deliberative democracy. We believe ADAB is a humble start. We first provide a brief history. Then we make a case for Munāẓara’s applicability to contemporary problems as its attention to virtues and their manifestation in argumentative behavior is key to handling the growing frustration with public space or the lack thereof.

Mohd Nishat Faisal, Fauzia Jabeen, Marios Katsioloudes, Abu Dhabi University (UAE), American University of Cyprus (Cyprus), Qatar University (Qatar): Entrepreneurial mindset and the role of universities as strategic drivers of entrepreneurship: Evidence from the United Arab Emirates

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the factors that influence the mindset of youth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in choosing entrepreneurship as their future employment. It also suggests the pathway to improve the role of the universities as strategic drivers in inducing an entrepreneurial mindset. An exhaustive literature review of extant research followed by an exploratory study was conducted. Furthermore, to understand factors influencing the role of universities, interpretive structural modeling methodology is applied to evolve a hierarchy-based relationship among the strategic factors. The results of empirical research suggest that young people in the UAE rank entrepreneurship as their first employment choice. However, most of them have not attended any formal entrepreneurship-related courses in school or in college. The study also suggests that individual and environmental factors influence the entrepreneurial mindset of both males and females in the UAE. The structural model developed in the study indicates that to give an impetus to the entrepreneurial mindset, the government must create a supporting environment with UAE universities playing the role of a catalyst. The results could provide insights for both entrepreneurship educators and policymakers and will boost their commitment to promote the entrepreneurial mindset within UAE society by enhancing and developing traits associated with entrepreneurial success. The results support recognition of the factors that induce educational programmes and economic incentives targeted at the development of sustainable entrepreneurial culture and ventures in the UAE.

Speaker Bios:
Rahmi Oruç is a lecturer at Comparative Literature, Ibn Haldun University. He recently defended his Ph.D. thesis entitled “What do we do with arguments?: Situating Munāẓara in contemporary argumentation scholarship.” He introduces Munāẓara as a contemporary argumentation theory that may complement and even serve as an alternative to existing theories. His interests include comparative literature, rhetoric, literary theory, digital humanities, and narratology. His overall research orientation is the reassessment of madrasa sciences for contemporary scholarship. E-mail: rahmioruc@ihu.edu.tr

Önder Kucukural is an assistant professor at the Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Ibn Haldun University. He received his PhD in Sabanci University, Political Science Program. He was a visiting researcher at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim- Christian Understanding (ACMCU) at Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 2011/12. He is one of the co authors of books Yaşlılar ve Yaşlı Yakınları Açısından Yaşam Biçimi Tercihleri, [Lifestyle choices of the elderly from the elderly’s perspective and that of their relatives - 2004] Türkiye’de Dindarlık [Religiosity in Turkey - 2012], and “Türkiye’de spiritüel arayışlar” [Spiritual Seeking in Turkey - 2021]. He is the director of Munazara and Argumentation Ethics Research Center. Currently he is the primary investigator of two research projects "Non-Religious Beliefs and Practices in Turkey" and "Adab in Dialogue: Developing Argumentative Virtues in a Divided World". His research interests include argumentation and reasoning, religiosity, discourse analysis, ecology and gender studies. He offers graduate level courses at Alliance of Civilisations Institute.

Mohd. Nishat Faisal is a professor of supply chain management at the Department of Management & Marketing, College of Business & Economics, Qatar University, Qatar. He obtained his PhD as the first National Doctoral Fellow in Management from IIT Delhi, India. His name has appeared in the “List of Top 2% Researchers/Scientists of the World” in a Stanford study. His papers on supply chain risk management are among the most highly cited papers in this area. He is the recipient of Emerald’s Highly Commended Award 2008, Winner of Outstanding Paper 2018 and CBE, QU-Excellence in Research Award, 2011-2012.

Fauzia Jabeen is a professor of management in the College of Business at Abu Dhabi University and a visiting professor at Burgundy School of Business, Dijon, France and University of Agder, Norway. In addition, she serves as chapter advisor for the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society at Abu Dhabi University. A prolific writer, Jabeen has published work on behavior, gender studies, innovation, sustainability, knowledge, and performance in leading journals, including the International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Business Research, Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Journal of Cleaner Production, Business Strategy and the Environment. Jabeen has delivered training to leading Middle East companies, including Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi Municipality, Mubadala, and Saudi Telecom Company (STC). She has received literary awards and research grants from various UAE and global funding agencies, such as Al Hosn Gas and the Fulbright Scholarship Program, USA. She was honored to receive the Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter Advisor of the Year Global Award in 2018 and 2020, the ADU Distinguished Faculty Award in 2020, the 'Outstanding Paper Award' and 'Highly Commended Paper' in 2018 and 2019 from the Emerald Literati Awards, and the Abu Dhabi University Research Fellow Award in 2018.

Marios Katsioloudes holds a PhD in strategy and international business from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently the founding dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, and professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the American University of Cyprus, and a former professor of management at Qatar University, where he taught strategic management, international business, and entrepreneurship courses at the undergraduate, MBA and Doctoral levels. He is a visiting professor to the University of Cyprus, Galen University in Belize, Linkoping University in Sweden, EDHEC Business School in France, Mediterranean School of Business in Tunisia, Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain, Tulane University in the USA and The Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Greece. He has worked for the Cyprus Development Bank and the World Bank. He has authored/co-authored six books, published over 42 articles and 72 conference proceedings on strategic management, international business and small business management/entrepreneurship. The second edition of his strategic management book was published in 2017 by Routledge. He has also served and still serving as a member/chair of review panels for business programs in Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia

Register to the virtual event: https://myumi.ch/G1VwM

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Building: Off Campus Location
Location: Virtual
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Event Type: Class / Instruction
Tags: Cmenas Colloquium Series, Higher Education, Middle East Studies, Virtual
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, International Institute, School of Education Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education