Shaheen is just a shill for Big Literacy.

Ya Shaheen,

yet again, if this only focuses on technical expertise - like all those Western universities in the MidEast that have sprung up over the past years - then it won't do much good.

One of the main flaws of the last decades of development politics has been to try to "use the good & avoid the evil of the West" because it translated into "we want technical education but not social sciences and humanities".

Let's see how those Sorbonne-on-the-Gulf experiments pan out.

--MSK*

MSK,

you have a good point, but. If the MENA region produced 100,000 engineers every year, the rest would follow naturally, so I wouldn't worry much about it. India for example produces a 100,000 just in IT. I don't remember the exact number, but a few years ago, I saw a stat for MENA and it was more along the few thousands a year.

Matthew, am I missing some pun?

No pun; just a parody of the habitual lefty jibe that is made at people who say nice things about big institutions. (Shill for Big Tobacco, Big oil, etc.)

regarding India and engineers.

Key quote: In the United States, by some estimates fully 40 percent of Indian-Americans hail from Gujarat, where a large proportion belong to the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism, distinctive for its emphasis on uncritical obedience to the utterances of the current leader of the sect, whose title is Pramukh Swami Maharaj. On a visit to the elaborate multimillion-dollar Swaminarayan temple in Bartlett, Ill., I was given a tour by a young man recently arrived from Gujarat, who delighted in telling me the simplistic Hindu-right story of India's history, and who emphatically told me that whenever Pramukh Swami speaks, one is to regard it as the direct voice of God and obey without question. At that point, with a beatific smile, the young man pointed up to the elaborate marble ceiling and asked, "Do you know why this ceiling glows the way it does?" I said I didn't, and I confidently expected an explanation invoking the spiritual powers of Pramukh Swami. My guide smiled even more broadly. "Fiber-optic cables," he told me. "We are the first ones to put this technology into a temple." There you see what can easily wreck democracy: a combination of technological sophistication with utter docility. I fear that many democracies around the world, including our own, are going down that road, through a lack of emphasis on the humanities and arts and an unbalanced emphasis on profitable skills.

I don't know if I agree, but that might be my background. Far too much emphasis on humanities here in Denmark, with highly educated unemployment following.

Most American Gujaratis I've encountered have been Ismaili Muslims.

They rigidly obey Rita Hayworth.

I don't think that most Indian Engineers are Gujaratis .
They are more likely to be traders and merchants whether that be in Africa or in the UK or as Diamond merchants in the Netherlands.A number of motels across America are owned by Gujarati Patels.

Most of the Indian engineers you're likely to meet in the States are South Indian, at least the first-gens; Gujaratis are historically more likely to be traders and entrepreneurs (again, the ones that make it overseas).

I agree with MSK that the full benefits of Western education cannot be felt with just technical or scientific or business schools, if you want to get people to think creatively you need to focus more on primary and secondary level pedagogy, and of course, the social sciences and humanities are important as well in producing economists and urban planners and political reformers and civil society groups and artists and writers, all of whom will be very necessary indeed if Dubai is not to turn into a sheikhly-technocratic city that no-one wants to live in long-term because there's nothing to do except shop and work.

SP:
Dubai's government is very happy for most Indians (and other expats) to go back. Indeed, most of them leave when they retire retire, not least because their extended families are not in Dubai. They often use the money they save in the Gulf to build homes in their country of origin.

Economists and urban planners can be imported. Gulf governments are not as keen on bringing in political reformers and most civil society groups for reasons I don't need to explain here.

Dear Sirs ,
I am Ehsan Jaber Mehdy Alkhafagy, Iraqi national. I am living and working in the Republic of Yemen since 1991 up until now. I am 42 years old. I am a teacher of English, but now I enjoy The International Protection through the UNHCR ( Sana'a office) File No: 677-05C06808 which valied on next August.
I am writing to offer and discuss my proposals with you.I have some innovation project ideas of my own in the hope that they would study and maybe be adopt them as letters of patent or send me an invitation to discuss the matter with you.I offer you my proposals concerning my my ideas of innovations.I herewith writing them enclose to my message , hoping you kindly consider and tell me your opinion about them.
In case you are interested and want more detailed information on nuture and practicability of my ideas, please respond to my postal mail address or to my E-Mail address and I will be glad and willing to give you as much as possible information you will ask for and the idea of their design.
Ideas on some innovations I studied and designed with details for implementation on certain important applications with regard to Environment protection, Generation of Energy from sources I believe have not attempted before and Airlines Safety.I have been working on those projects for the last couple of years.
1. Environment Protection.
a. Disposal of Garbage.
b. Getting Rid of Garbage and Dumps.
c. Fighting and Extinguishing Forest Fires and Erupting in oil Fields ,and prevent their spread to large areas.
d. Preventing and Stopping Over Flooding of the Rivers.
2. New Sources of Energy.
a. Pressure- driven Turbines for Generating Power.( two ways ).
b. Train Turbines.
c. Sand Turbines.
d. Used Tyres Turbines.
3. Improving Function of Electric Apparatuses and Equipment.
4. Design of a ( V I P 's) car.
5. Design of ant - thief cars ( not alarm ).
6. Airlines Safety.
a. Preventing Airplanes from Crashing into the ground.
b. Preventing The Terrorists attacks ( air bombing ,Hijacking .....etc )
I am looking forward to receiving your kind response soon. Thank you .
Yours Sincerely
Ehsan Al Khafagy
P.O Box 11320
Sanaa,
Republic of Yemen

BTW, the comment above is irrelevant yet intriguing, so I've unjunked it.

(1) The earth belongs equally to us all, and (2)what we produce belongs to us only and is our private property. There is a tax system based on these principles and not surprisingly, it can create prosperity anywhere while fully supporting the government. It has already done so wherever it has been tried.

Fortunately, there are literally hundreds of empirical studies fully enacting and supporting these principles which I would be happy to send to anyone requesting them. - 10528 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia MD 21044, U.S.A.

(1) The earth belongs equally to us all, and (2)what we produce belongs to us only and is our private property. There is a tax system based on these principles and not surprisingly, it can create prosperity anywhere while fully supporting the government. It has already done so wherever it has been tried.

Fortunately, there are literally hundreds of empirical studies fully enacting and supporting these principles which I would be happy to send to anyone requesting them. - 10528 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia MD 21044, U.S.A.