Civic engagement at Arab universities

Abstract

This paper addresses the civic engagement concept within the discourse and curriculum of 36 universities in 15 Arab countries. Several keywords, such as ‘civic/civil’, ‘public affairs’ and ‘civil responsibility’, were searched for in the official discourse, as well as in programmes and courses. The findings showed that these words were used with different meanings and connotations in different circumstances. Most importantly, they were unrelated to the civic engagement concept and did not reflect the true adoption of, or serious orientation towards, the cause of civic engagement that was claimed to be championed when several of these 36 universities became part of the Ma’an Alliance and ratified the Talloires Declaration.