Student to student, across 7,000 miles
Nine UD Honors undergrads spend spring break in the Arab world
3:42 p.m., April 5, 2011--While political uprisings raged around the Arab world -- in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria, nine undergraduate Honors students and a doctoral student voluntarily spent their spring break visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an enrichment activity for their Global Agenda class. The University of Delaware students found the UAE to be politically far from the protests elsewhere.
The UD Honors students traveled to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the largest cities in the UAE, to meet in person a class of Emirati college students at Zayed University. The two groups have been meeting by videoconference throughout this semester, in the fourth year of an unusual UD Honors class.
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The students' travel was supported by the Honors Program, the Department of Political Science and International Relations, the UD Alumni Association and the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The group was led by Ralph J. Begleiter, director of the Center for Political Communication.
"Although videoconferencing provides an excellent opportunity for intercultural communication, meeting students from another culture in person can often be a transformative experience," Begleiter said. "Even visiting another country on your own or with a group is not as enlightening as doing so together with peers from the culture."
While daily news reports highlighted political conflict in other Arab countries, the Zayed and UD students were jointly exploring the Emirates' history, music and trade legacy. Together, they visited the country's grand Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, where five UD women students donned traditional black Emirati abayas out of respect as they entered the sanctuary. At a heritage village deep in the Emirati desert, they discovered the differences between American-style democracy and the Emirati style of government, in which unelected rulers solicit public opinion at non-binding majlis, or consultative gatherings.
The students also visited the 124-story-high observatory in the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and saw other evidence of Dubai's rapid economic growth during the past ten years.
Political topics were not the sole fare of the Emirati-American student exchange. Subjects like dating and marriage, women's rights, environmental preservation and the role of the United States in global culture are among others discussed during the visit.
The intercultural exchange program is in its third year with Zayed University in Dubai. Begleiter conducted the first program four years ago with a class in Beirut, Lebanon. Last year's class from Zayed University visited UD last spring, and this year's group is also considering a exchange later this semester.
In addition to directing the Center for Political Communication, Begleiter is the Edward and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Communication and distinguished journalist in residence in political science and international relations at the University.