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Purpose: This article examines the use of English medium instruction (EMI) for teaching Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) by non-native speakers with a focus on multilingual classrooms. It also explores teachers' positive and negative beliefs about using EMI in classroom settings for JFL instruction. Methods and procedure: 274 non-native Japanese language teachers from around the world (57 countries) voluntarily participated in a survey, answering a questionnaire on Google Forms and Jotform. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. The research instrument was piloted before the main study and was found to be effective and adequate to elicit the desired data. The research questions aimed to identify whether there were any relationships between the use of EMI and the multilingual classroom. Findings: The results showed a clear correlation between the extensive use of EMI and the multilingual character of JFL classrooms. Translanguaging turned out to be a common practice adopted by non-native Japanese teachers regardless of the primary language of instruction. The article concludes that EMI can be a valuable tool for JFL instruction in multilingual classrooms. Based on the investigation of the teachers' beliefs, the results showed a changing positive attitude towards English employed in JFL classrooms. Implications for research and practice: The findings can be used to further investigate EMI in JFL instructional practices in multilingual classrooms, improve the quality of JFL instruction and facilitate the integration of multilingual education into foreign language teaching. Future research can explore the effectiveness of EMI in different JFL contexts and investigate the impact of EMI on students' language learning outcomes.

Members of research ethics committees (RECs) face a number of ethical challenges when reviewing genomic research. These include issues regarding the content and type of consent, the return of individual research results, mechanisms of sharing specimens and health data, and appropriate community engagement efforts. This article presents the findings from a survey that sought to investigate the opinions and attitudes of REC members from four Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, and Jordan) toward these ethical issues. Our findings suggest that efforts are required to better familiarize REC members with the requirements for ethical biobank research. Additionally, we recommend that further research is undertaken with REC members regarding the main items that should be present in the Material Transfer Agreements/Data Transfer Agreements in their corresponding countries and the type of consent that should be used in genomic research.

Although its impacts on higher education functions are yet to be studied across regional, national, and institutional contexts, it is generally observed that COVID-19 disrupts teaching and learning, research and travels, and university community service worldwide. To improve our understanding of the strategies higher education institutions (HEI) can use for staying relevant and competitive in times of crisis and beyond, this essay reflects on current developments in HEI in Africa as linked to COVID-19. It subsequently highlights how African HEI respond to the pandemic, the prospect of online instruction, and the conditions that support the successful integration of technologies in teaching and learning. There is ample evidence that supports that African universities are more likely to significantly embrace digital technologies in the future than ever before. To inform successful technology integration, a generic conceptual model that explains success indicators and success factors in technology-supported learning environments in higher education is presented.

This paper explores the nexus between University-Industry Collaborations (UIC) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region informed by a multiple-country-case study design. This study aims to explore the motives, opportunities and challenges, and propose effective practices in the MENA region context. Based on qualitative data retrieved through a series of 72 semi-structured interviews with university stakeholders (i.e., faculty, directors of corporate training, administrative staff, gatekeepers, company representatives and liaisons) conducted from March 2021 to September 2022. The sample was determined by a criterion sampling approach that enabled the development of cases from five countries in the MENA region (United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco) with each country sample comprising five university cases on average. This study was designed on a Multiple Case Study Research Design Approach (Yin, 2013) and this was supplemented by Template Analysis (a form of thematic analysis), and to incorporate the cross-national comparative dimension, Yasin and Hafeez (2022) approaches were adopted. The findings illustrate a wide range of motives, challenges, opportunities, and effective factors that are linked to varying objectives such as (1) the vision and ownership structures, (2) the stakeholder connections of universities (3) the brand reputation of the university provider (4) the perception and ranking of universities as well as (5) approaches undertaken by the University representative to negotiate the expectations of live projects. As a result, a contextualized framework is proposed in this study as the "five [essential] keys" for successful collaborations for the nexus between university and industry collaborations. The originality of this study is inherent in the qualitative cases and contextualized influences in non-westernized countries that are empirically under-explored, as well as the five keys framework that is useful from a theoretical and practical standpoint for academics, policymakers, and university leadership.

The doctorate degree ranks third on the academic hierarchy, and is commonly viewed as an approval on a student by an institution, to conduct original research in at least one academic discipline. Several motivations drive the need to acquire a doctorate degree, and they include intrinsic interest, employment considerations, personal, and professional development. To achieve this feat, some students pursue their PhD abroad for several reasons as discovered by this study. Using a quantitative approach, this paper reports on the findings of an online survey distributed to 1901 Asian and African students pursing their PhD to investigate their experiences, and determine their satisfaction, and its relationship with their personal and professional growth. Findings reveal that most students were satisfied with their decision to pursue a PhD in another continent, but were dissatisfied with some properties that made up the process. This included their relationship with their supervisors, their study-work-life balance, and its effects on their mental health. As you are reporting on a study that has already happened, write in past tense.

Recent studies on language acquisition and motivation have targeted Japanese language learners in a formal educational context, with less attention paid to learners who study Japanese informally. The current study aims to investigate the impact of Japanese animations in the context of informal third language acquisition. It targets the native speakers of Arabic who are interested in learning Japanese as a third language (L3), and investigates the motivations of Arab teenagers and young adults to learn Japanese. Further, the paper also focuses on examining aspects of Japanese language proficiency among teenagers and young adults, including vocabulary enhancement and grammar competence. The methodology used in the current study is twofold: an online survey questionnaire adopted from Armour and Iida (2016), followed by an engaging experiment in which participants were divided into two groups (reality anime group vs. action anime group) in order to examine the effectiveness of anime selection in boosting proficiency level. The findings of the online survey indicate that Arabic native speakers are highly motivated to learn Japanese, while the experiment results confirm that the type of anime and consistency of exposure do support the acquisition process. Further, the study concluded that consumption of anime series contributes to the learning process and facilitates learners' proficiency in general and vocabulary learning in particular. However, it remains unknown whether or not Arabic native speakers' motivations lead to their enrollment into formal Japanese foreign language education. Avenues for future research and implications are also presented toward the end of the paper.

The case method has made inroads as a pedagogical tool that can sharpen students' analytical skills and better prepare them for the reality awaiting them professionally. Despite its deep-seated origins in the West, the case method remains underused in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The purpose of this study is to explore the main challenges that MENA business higher education institutions face in effecting case-based learning and the key initiatives that may help in addressing them. Building on our extensive experience with case studies production and teaching in the MENA context, and a pioneering exploratory research involving 40 instructors, students, and administrators from three leading business schools in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, we shed new light on the skills and contextual challenges that MENA business higher education institutions encounter when implementing the case method. We also propose a framework that integrates a wide range of initiatives to promote case-based learning in MENA. At the heart of this framework is the "community building" effort advocated as a catalyst to support case writing, teaching, solving, and publishing, as well as the development of a culture conducive to an effective deployment of the case method in the specific MENA context.

The phenomena of disabilities in the Arab world can be viewed from various perspectives, considering historical times, epistemological programmes and theoretical models. This article is a theoretical review and comparative data analysis of the problems regarding the evolution of attitudes and current concept of disability and theoretical assumptions of caring for disabled people in the Arab world. Content of the theoretical part of the paper includes reasons for caring for disabled Arabs, including: analysis of human orientation aspects, social orientation, equality of opportunity and principles of democracy orientation and human development orientation. In the second part of the article the authors discuss empirical comparative data related to disability in the Arab world as: various causes of congenital or acquired disabilities, including culturally bounded causes of disabilities in Arab world, related to marriages in close families and marriages of underage girls. The paper illustrates key aspects of conceptualization of disabilities in the Arab countries and gives comparative analysis of the latest data on the situation of children with disabilities in education sectors and adults in the labor market. This part of comparative analysis broadly refers to the primary data from the Arab countries published as research report in 2018 by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The report is entitled "Disability in the Arab Region".

Women's underrepresentation in mathematics-related careers continues to concern policymakers, economists, and educators. This study addressed the issue by examining data from two international databases, namely IEA's "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015," and the World Economic Forum's "Global Gender Gap Report 2017." Using country as the unit for our observations and meta-analysis techniques, the question of gender mathematics differences was investigated using standardized mean difference comparisons and variance ratios. Fourth- and eighth-grade girls and boys were also compared in terms of the number of students who reached the advanced international benchmark. The findings mostly supported previous findings in the related literature; no statistically significant large differences were observed comparing the performance of girls and boys in mathematics achievement and the number of high achievers. Moreover, boys were found to have more variability in mathematics achievement than girls. This finding further isolates the potential cause of women's underrepresentation in mathematics-related careers as policies driven by implicit and explicit cultural biases.

The phenomena of disabilities in the Arab world can be viewed from various perspectives, considering historical times, epistemological programmes and theoretical models. This article is a theoretical review and comparative data analysis of the problems regarding the evolution of attitudes and current concept of disability and theoretical assumptions of caring for disabled people in the Arab world. Content of the theoretical part of the paper includes reasons for caring for disabled Arabs, including: analysis of human orientation aspects, social orientation, equality of opportunity and principles of democracy orientation and human development orientation. In the second part of the article the authors discuss empirical comparative data related to disability in the Arab world as: various causes of congenital or acquired disabilities, including culturally bounded causes of disabilities in Arab world, related to marriages in close families and marriages of underage girls. The paper illustrates key aspects of conceptualization of disabilities in the Arab countries and gives comparative analysis of the latest data on the situation of children with disabilities in education sectors and adults in the labor market. This part of comparative analysis broadly refers to the primary data from the Arab countries published as research report in 2018 by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The report is entitled "Disability in the Arab Region".

Middle East Region is home to more than 400 million people, representing 5% of world population, and boasts a workforce of 103 million scattered across 22 countries (Lord, 2016). Sixty five percent of the populations are young aged 25 or under, which puts growing stress on educational, health and social systems. Over the last decade, most Middle East countries put into action many reforms for women's rights and sensitivity toward gender issues. Currently, almost all Middle East countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Many nations in the Region shown strong commitment to uplift education and make them accessible to all eligible women. There was also substantial increase in the allocation of funds for education in nearly all Middle East nations. For a balanced national development, women are needed in the various areas where their functions are most suitable. In principle, there are equal opportunities for both genders but social perception and prejudice determine which types of employment are particularly suitable for women or men. Several renowned Middle Eastern women are Physicians, Chemist, Physicist, Engineers, Doctors, Judges, Lawyers, Journalist, Poets, Novelist and even Legislatives (Islam, 2017).

This research has the objective to determine the profiles of scientific publications in Muslim countries, including: the position of Muslim countries developing scientific publications through scientific journals; an overview of scientific journals that develop in Muslim countries; and an overview of scientific journals that develop in Muslims countries as an indicator of opportunities and challenges of scientific publications for Islamic Universities in Indonesia. The research method used was content analysis with the main data source from The Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC). The data analysis used descriptive statistics with percentage model, and it was described in qualitative descriptive. The results demonstrate that the most widely owned scientific publications are from Malaysia, followed by Iran and Pakistan, which is above 100. The scientific publications, over 40 in number, come from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The scientific publications, at around 14-24 in number, come from India, Jordan, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan. In addition to the 10 countries mentioned above, 20 other countries have approximately 1-7 scientific publications on average. The lack of scientific publications in Muslim countries becomes a great opportunity and challenge for Islamic Universities in Indonesia for producing quality scientific publications.

This multinational authored article presents the findings and recommendations of a three-year, European-funded project 'OpenMed: Opening up education in South Mediterranean countries', which brought together five higher education partners from Europe and nine from the South Mediterranean region. This was the first cross-European initiative to promote the adoption of Open Educational Practices (OEP) within higher education involving educational institutions in each of the countries. A three-phase project design included gathering and analyzing case studies of OEPs globally, and, in particular, in the South Mediterranean; the organization of regional forums to encourage priorities for change; and the multi-national design and pilot implementation of a 'training of trainers' course for academic capacity building in OEPs as part of curricula reform. We will discuss how the cultural approaches used among experts and project partners with different national, linguistic, and educational backgrounds have instigated change in policy and practice at a personal, institutional, and national level.

Despite increasingly egalitarian attitudes toward women in the Middle East and North Africa, nations in this region continue to rank among the lowest in measures of gender equality. Using survey data, we examine the relationship between educational attainment and support for women. We find that increased educational attainment is predictive of greater support for women's employment and women's participation in post-secondary education. We also find that egalitarian attitudes have increased over time and education continues to remain a strong predictor of these attitudes. We argue for increased investment in education that promotes egalitarian attitudes for both genders in the MENA region.

In most countries of the world, 40 to 50 % of students are women. However, there is greater sex imbalance in STEM fields. Indicators show that tertiary education in Arab region is high compared with gender balance in several countries; there is even imbalance in favor of women as in Saudi Arabia & Gulf States. UNESCO and World Bank statistics reveal that Arab women actively pursuing STEM fields e.g. in 2014, women comprises 59% of total students enrolled in computer Science in Saudi Arabia while UK and USA women enrolment were 16% and 14% respectively. Graduate women attempt to pursue career or postgraduate degrees are often excluded on bases of their gender and marginalized therefore much less apt to enter and remain in the job, few achieve leadership positions. In principle, there are equal opportunities for both genders in many Arab States, but social perception and prejudice determine which types of employment are particularly suitable for women or men. Removing the barriers would foster major social and economic benefits for every Arab State.

While a consensus has emerged on the importance of creativity in graphic design and multimedia field, little systematic research has attempted to understand its facilitators or inhibitors in the graphic and multimedia education across colleges and universities. The current investigation surveys a sample of experts as well as professors teaching across the Arab World concerning their perceptions on the most significant correlates of creative thinking among students. Results point to the importance of: (1) instructors' engagement; (2) appropriate use of instructional strategies, tools, and resources; (3) institutional support; (4) peer support; and (5) the removal of red-tape regulatory frameworks. Most importantly, this research highlights the need to move away from the rigid higher education creativity model assuming perfection, precision, accuracy, and optimal effectiveness to a more flexible creativity framework. The Multi-Layered Autonomous Phases Model (MLAPM) is proposed as an alternative approach to cultivating creativity at the higher education level. The MLAPM applies to all levels beginning with the students and the instructor in the classroom and all instructional tools applied, moving upward to the institutional administration levels. The model offers cost-effective, flexible, dynamic, and effective practices that improve levels of creativity and creative thinking among students without the need to invest in new costly equipment, tools, curriculum, or instructional programs.

This study presents the Revised Arabic Schwartz Outcome Scale-10 (Blais et al., 1999). Data collected from Arabic and English speakers residing in the United States (n = 152) and international Arabic speakers (n = 423) provided robust psychometric support for the instrument's use to measure Arabic speakers' mental health outcomes.

This study outlines the literature relevant to the Cross-cultural issues and the politics of SEN and the different perspectives arising from the literature on this widely debated issue are addressed. In addition, the origin of the term "special educational needs" (SEN), its definitions and the types of special education needs are presented. Appropriate pedagogy for children with SEN is also discussed. The results from the literature review indicated a number of gaps in the present frameworks. As a result, this has led the scholar to work additional on these frameworks for the aim of this study.

The event leading to the death of Mohammed Bouzazi in Tunisia in 2009 brought to light the dehumanized conditions which an average Tunis had been subjected to at the hands of the Tunisian government. The death of Bouzazi lead to street protests and demonstrations by thousands of demonstrators, calling for political reforms, free speech, improved conditions of living, etc, in Tunisia. As a result of this, the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali came to an end. With this success, citizens of other neighbouring countries in North Africa that had similar problems went to the streets asking for reform changes in their countries. These countries include Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, etc. What later on followed is now history. Therefore, in this work, an overview of the events that led to the uprisings in the affected countries would be looked into. The aftermaths of these uprisings are no doubt what one should ponder upon. This is with a view to analysing the lessons to be learnt from these uprisings so as to avoid a repeat of it in future. Therefore, recommendations are made, followed by a concluding remark of the work.

This article investigates the intercultural competence and identities of undergraduate heritage language learners (HLLs) studying abroad under the auspices of the U.S. Flagship Program. Based on survey responses and interviews with HLLs from Flagship Programs across the country, the article aims to assess the preparation of HLLs for study abroad and provides recommendations on the advisability of adopting an IC Level 3 standard that HLLs must meet prior to departure. We argue HLLs in study abroad programs require a specialized approach to achieve intercultural competence, with attention to cultural differentiation, development of an intercultural identity, and appreciation of the culturally-specific nature of language use.

As the United States continued to grow as a world power throughout the later part of the twentieth century, government funding for international education grew more closely connected to its national security needs. Federal funds have contributed to the growth of Area Studies and studying Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs). Within the last ten years the U.S. study abroad population selecting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has grown by over 500% from 2000/01 to 2008/09. This remarkable growth is occurring at the same time as national security and foreign policy goals of the United States have become increasingly focused on the MENA region. Many scholars have marked events of September 11, 2001 as a critical point in U.S. history in regards to the explosion of general academic concern about the MENA region and the need for governmental personnel who are well trained in critical languages and Middle East Studies. This study therefore examines several concepts drawn from a survey of U.S. study abroad students in the MENA region and in destinations in Western Europe and Australia conducted during the fall of 2010. Employing a historical review, this research described how government has played a role in the expansion of study abroad in this area of the world by increasing the amount of area and language education available at U.S. institutions. In addition, this review has demonstrated ways in which the U.S. government has provided funds for students to study abroad in regions of the world which relate to current national security needs; areas which often are outside of the common destinations in Western Europe and Australia. (The study contains a bibliography.)

Language education curricula and programs worldwide have begun emphasizing foreign language instruction for learners as young as 5-6 years, particularly in English. Yet, while studies have argued for the benefits of early language instruction, the results of this trend in terms of actual achievement are not clear. For this reason, the researchers designed this study to illustrate the connection between age of onset of English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction and learner achievement, examining international language curricula from countries where English is taught as a foreign language beginning at the pre-primary and primary level alongside the corresponding scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The findings indicate that, although early onset of EFL instruction may be beneficial in many respects, it is not, in itself, a guarantee of success, and other elements, such as class size, number of hours dedicated to English instruction, and teacher qualifications, must also be considered.

Four databases were searched to identify studies published by Arab researchers on parents' perceptions of autism spectrum disorder and studies conducted by US researchers and published in systematic reviews of this topic. The electronic search resulted in 14 studies published by Arab researchers and 55 studies published by US researchers. The results showed that autism spectrum disorder has many of the same effects on Arab and American families. Six major areas were identified in the results. Financial difficulties associated with raising children with autism spectrum disorder were mentioned more in Arab studies than in US studies. Arab studies had more emphasis on gender than US studies. The results related to quality of life of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder in Arab studies were equivocal. US studies included comparisons with families without a child with autism spectrum disorder, and addressed factors that were associated with quality of life indicators. More health, educational, and social services were available in United States than in Arab countries, but some frustration was reported by US parents in obtaining appropriate services in some studies. A higher percentage of Arab studies mentioned the role of religious faith than US studies. Finally, social stigma was evidenced in both cultures, but not much research was available.

Despite some recent criticism, the idea of language interpreting in anthropological (among others) field research seems still firmly rooted in classical anthropology where the interpreter was an obstacle and necessary evil rather than aid. We surveyed anthropologists conducting field research in Arab League countries to describe their practices and give them voice in the matter. We found that while a share of anthropologists appreciates interpreters' input, an equally striking number does not even recognize they used one. We discuss practices of having team members and local officials working as courtesy interpreters and its effect on ethics, safety and validity of data collection.

This study investigates the impact of higher education on economic growth and is based on a sample of 18 African economies over the time period 1980-2015. The research makes use of a Panel Vector Autoregression (PVAR) framework to account for potential dynamic and endogenous relationship in modelling of the tertiary education-growth nexus. The findings show that higher education significantly increases the economic growth of the sample of African countries understudy with a lagged time. The economic effect of higher education is observed to be relatively smaller as those reported for the case of developed countries and also in comparison with primary and secondary education. Interestingly, this research also confirms the presence of a reverse causation as the economy's income is also a determinant of tertiary education, although with a lagged time. Domestic and foreign direct investment, education attainment as well as openness level are also observed to be other determinants of tertiary education enrollment. Finally, there is evidence that tertiary education encourages private and foreign direct investment thus indirectly affecting growth rates.

This article considers the impact of a two-year collaborative European Union-funded project. The 'Sustainable Ways to Increase Higher Education Students' Equal Access to Learning Environments' (SWING) project, brought together four European higher education institutions, one institution in Egypt and two in Morocco. It aimed to promote equal access to university education, and future career opportunities, for students with disabilities in the North African countries, using accessible assistive technology. Appreciative inquiry was used to explore the impact of the project processes and outcomes. We will share how the focus on assistive technology addressed the invisibility of students with disabilities by promoting individual and collective student agency. Students' emerging sense of empowerment is attributed to two factors that inform the wider inclusive education debate: the power of technology as a mediator of change and the importance of a bottom-up/top-down dynamic.

This paper presents results from a project investigating over ninety learners of Arabic who studied abroad in the Arab world within the last few years. It explores their linguistic and cultural experiences during their time abroad. One of the most important issues in this paper is that of the development of intercultural competence on study abroad programs. In the following pages the paper explores literature concerning study abroad programs, intercultural competence and Arabic language varieties. After a review of the literature, the methodology used in this research is included. The results of this research will then be presented followed by a discussion and implications.

The destiny of any nation begins in its classroom where young people are equipped with knowledge and skills to lead the nation. Higher education is the corner stone in development where the work force is trained to lead the social, economic, political and cultural change. In such a competitive global economy the human capital is the most valuable asset. Higher education institutes are training units, where labor force is made. These institutes are also incubators of scientists and technologists where researchers are qualified to make the scientific and technological change. This role is absent in higher Arab Education Institutes; so this paper aims at specifying the internal and external challenges that are facing higher education institutions in the Arab world; in addition to searching the degree of responsiveness of these institutions to face these challenges, and how to integrate them with the requirements of development and labor market needs.