The First Liberal Arts Education Conference (LAEC)
Liberal Arts in the MENA Region: Opportunities and Challenges
العلوم الحرة في الشرق الأوسط وشمال افريقيا: فرص و تحديات
May 1st, 2023
Effat University, Jeddah, KSA
Liberal Arts education has been an essential element of the academic experience offered at some of the most renowned Western educational intuitions in the world. It has currently gained a significant amount of recognition and acceptance in other parts of the world, including in our immediate context of the MENA region.
The General Education Department at Effat University is seeking to organize an international conference on “Liberal Arts in the MENA Region: Opportunities and Challenges" not only to share the Effat model of LAE with all local, regional and global educational institutions, but also to exchange ideas and expertise in this domain so as to initiate a proper discourse on LAE in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region at large. The suggested conference theme indicates that the event provides opportunities for everyone to come forward and share knowledge, opinions and expertise and acknowledge LAE as a provider of broad and varied knowledge and a promoter of critical and innovative thinking. Additionally, it constitutes the foundation upon which other majors are built and a potential solution to current and future challenges.
Aim of the Conference
The general aim of this conference is to bring together educationalists, administrators, counselors, teachers, graduate students and interested people to discuss theoretical and practical implications of LAE, most particularly in the context of the MENA region. It encourages the concerned stakeholders to share their interdisciplinary perspectives on LAE and how they utilize its opportunities and overcome its barriers and challenges in their academic and professional lives. Moreover, it aims to encourage researchers to exchange the most recent research findings in this domain and keep all stakeholders connected to one another.
Conference topics
The Conference topics include, but are not limited to, the following list:
- Global LAE Initiatives: Aiming Beyond Science and Humanities
- LAE: Transitions and Transformations in the Non-Western Contexts
- Interdisciplinary Higher Education in the Age of Digitalization
- Towards Sustainable Models of LAE for Global Learners
- Legitimacy and Authority of LAE in the Muslim World
- Implications and Challenges of the LAE Curriculum Development
- Value Education of Equity, Fairness and Social Justice through LAE
- Ethical LAE: Issues of Specialization
- How to Build and Create a Practical Model of LAE for the Muslim world
- Exchanging Knowledge Across Borders: LAE Around the World
- Teaching and Learning Through Open Pedagogy and Practices
- LAE in K-12: Approaches in Primary and Secondary Education
- Understanding LAE in KSA: Sharing Case Studies and Contributing to the Body of Literature
- Building and Sustaining a Culture of LAE: Strategies, Policies and Best Practices
- The Joy of LAE: Celebrating Community and social solidarity
