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The first established universities in the MENA

 
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 3:43 am    Post subject: The first established universities in the MENA Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 5:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting that the oldest is AUB in 1866.

VS
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gregory999



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 372
Location: 999

PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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! Laughing)

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

PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many would exclude both of them from MENA. Neither are Arabic speaking countries.

VS
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gregory999



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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! Laughing)



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. Confused
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hash



Joined: 17 Dec 2014
Posts: 456
Location: Wadi Jinn

PostPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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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