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nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 3:43 am Post subject: The first established universities in the MENA |
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Just some mindless trivia...
The first formally-established universities (excluding madrasas) by country:
In the GCC:Bahrain: University of Bahrain (previously Gulf Polytechnic), 1968
Kuwait: Kuwait University, 1966
Oman: Sultan Qaboos University, 1986
Qatar: Qatar University, 1973
Saudi Arabia: King Saud University 1957
The UAE: UAE University, 1976
Elsewhere in the Middle East/North Africa:Algeria: University of Algiers, 1909
Egypt: Cairo University, 1908
Iraq: University of Baghdad, 1956
Israel: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1918
Jordan: University of Jordan, 1962
Lebanon: American University of Beirut, 1866
Libya: University of Libya, 1956
Morocco: University of Rabat, 1957
Sudan: University of Khartoum (previously Gordon Memorial College), 1902
Syria: University of Damascus, 1923
Tunisia: Tunis University, 1960
Yemen: Sana'a University, 1970 |
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veiledsentiments

Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 5:24 am Post subject: |
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Interesting that the oldest is AUB in 1866.
VS |
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gregory999

Joined: 29 Jul 2015 Posts: 372 Location: 999
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:52 am Post subject: |
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No IRAN in your list, nomad soul?
Ayatollah Rohani will be upset you did not include his prestigious old universities/institutes in your list (or is it an American embargo! )
IRAN:
University of Tehran, 1934, founded by Rezā Shāh, incorporating portions of the Dar ul-Funun Polytechnic Institute (1851) and the Tehran School of Political Sciences (1899).
So, Dar ul-Funun Polytechnic Institute (1851) is the oldest in the MENA region, 16 years before the American University invaded Lebanon.
I am going to visit TEHRAN next month ............. |
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nomad soul

Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| gregory999 wrote: |
| No IRAN in your list, nomad soul? |
I chose to leave it and Turkey off the list. |
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veiledsentiments

Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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Many would exclude both of them from MENA. Neither are Arabic speaking countries.
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gregory999

Joined: 29 Jul 2015 Posts: 372 Location: 999
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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Israel is not an Arabic speaking country is listed under the MENA term.
The term MENA covers an extensive region, extending from Morocco to Iran, including all Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries. The term is roughly synonymous with the term the Greater Middle East.
Due to the geographic ambiguity and Eurocentric nature of the term "Middle East", many people prefer use of the term WANA (West Asia and North Africa)[3] or the less common NAWA (North Africa-West Asia).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MENA |
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sheikh radlinrol
Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| gregory999 wrote: |
No IRAN in your list, nomad soul?
Ayatollah Rohani will be upset you did not include his prestigious old universities/institutes in your list (or is it an American embargo! )
I am going to visit TEHRAN next month ............. |
Surely it should be ¨I am visiting Tehran next month¨since your travel arrangements have already been made? ¨I am going to visit Tehran next month¨ suggests that you are annoyed by the other poster´s omission and that you intend to take it up with your friends, the Mullahs.  |
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hash
Joined: 17 Dec 2014 Posts: 456 Location: Wadi Jinn
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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| gregory999 wrote: |
| Israel is not an Arabic speaking country is listed under the MENA term. |
I don't know where you got your info, but Israel is definitely an Arabic speaking country. It is actually one of two official languages in that country with native Arabic speakers numbering close to 2 million. That's a big minority in a country with about 9 million inhabitants.
Although the newly coined term MENA, the more common Middle East and the older Near East were originally geographical designations, in the last 10 or 20 years they have come to mean, in everyday parlance, the Arab "world" - the countries where Arabic is the predominant language AND where Islam is the predominant religion. Thus non-Arabic speaking Turkey and Iran and non-Islamic Israel are generally not included, let alone Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it does include Sudan (Islamic and Arabic but not Arab) and the very distant Morocco.
It's interesting to note that the term Middle East exists in Arabic as a calque from English. Arabic readers on this forum will know it as Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, not only the name of the area, but also the name of the most widely circulated and read Arabic newspaper in the world.
In the Arab mind, the "Middle East" would also include some other African countries such as Mauritania and Chad (where Arabic is an official language).
But it does not include such culturally distant areas such as some of the Islamic Balkan countries or even Malta (Maltese is a full-fledged dialect of Arabic).
That leaves Iberia, or, in the Arab imagination, Al-Andalus. Even now in their heart of hearts and in their nostalgic dreams, most Arabs have not quite given up on the eventual triumphant return of Spain to the Arab fold. Even today, a few ancient families remain in Tunis, Algeria and Morocco clutching keys to their medieval villas in Sevilla and Cordoba in hopes of returning at last to reclaim their rightful inheritance.
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