Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Al Akhawayn University


Al Akhawayn University has around twelve-hundred students and is situated on a beautiful campus. It reflects the European feel of Ifrane, Moracco although it also has a striking mosque right in the center of campus. They are very interested in international education and have a great academic reputation, which drew me to them in the first place first as a potential partner for Champlain’s Global Modules project. In addition, even though the main languages spoken in Morocco are Arabic and French, the language of instruction at the university is English – which is another reason why they are such a good fit. Al Akhawayn's Bouziane Zaid actually ran a Global Module on women’s issues with my friend Bob Mayer from Champlain and it was a tremendous success. Over the last year we talked repeatedly about ways that our two universities could work together and I finally decided that it would be best to come here for more serious discussions, and I think I’ve made a great choice. The professors and administrators have been very supportive and we are actively working on putting together a series of Global Modules relating to Champlain's Concepts of Community class for the upcoming semester.