PRINCE EL HASSAN WARNS OF THE COMMODIFICATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION
\nautor: Majlis El Hassan
\npublished on : 25\/05\/2009
\nMajlis El Hassan<\/p>\n
Amman \u2013 Majlis El-Hassan<\/p>\n
\nHRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan said that \u201cCritical thinking is that astute cognitive presence in which the learner brings the sum of his \/ her intellectual faculties to bear on the given object of enquiry, in a delicate process of constructionist discourse.\u201d
\nIn his closing keynote address at the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education in the Europe Region, in Bucharest last Saturday (May, 23, 2009), HRH clarified that \u201ctoday, the majority of education systems both in the West and elsewhere, teach their pupils to rely on the brain\u2019s taxon memory system which is activated by repetition. Even in the so termed \u2018advanced countries\u2019 where universities pay lip service to critical thinking, the reality as it pertains on the ground is oftentimes very different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile some educational jurisdictions have made some strides in moving away from the Holy Grail of the examination (at least theoretically and rhetorically), it is still a pertinent reality that \u2018grades\u2019 attained in the artificial and synthetic environment of the examination room \u2013 an environment that will never again be replicated in the student\u2019s \u2018real\u2019 world, are in many cases the single most decisive factor in determining admission at institutions of pedigree, and in most cases, determining the annotation that accompanies the ensuing qualification,\u201d the Prince said.
\nThus, Rote learning, for Prince El Hassan is \u201cbrain antagonistic, and brain antagonistic pedagogies inhibit real experiential learning.\u201d
\n\u201cUniversities are at their best when they ingrain in their students\u2019 minds the need to seek clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance and above all, empathy \u2013 the ability to step into someone else\u2019s shoes and see the world through their eyes. Inculcating these characteristics in students will ensure the cultivation of minds that can probe and analyze, create solutions to problems, and expand boundaries of knowledge further and further,\u201d HRH added.
\nPrince El Hassan warned of the commodification of higher education which is \u201ca worldwide phenomenon with many universities increasingly becoming assembly lines (\u2026) Public universities are in many places being \u2018privatized\u2019 in the sense that they are increasingly responsible for raising their own funds. Students are increasingly seen as \u2018customers\u2019 (\u2026) The privatization of education risks turning the scholar into a commodity, and thought into a production line.\u201d
\nHRH called on higher education institutions to engage in a collective and meaningful conversation to enhance the trajectory of higher education for the sake of future end-users.<\/p>\n
While in Bucharest, Prince El Hassan met with Professor Ionel Haiduc, President of Romanian National Academy and His Beatitude Dr. Daniel Ciobotea, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Both meetings stressed the need for more cooperation between Europe and West Asia-North Africa region (WANA) on human issues.
\nPrince El Hassan also addressed the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly\u2019s Ad Hoc Committee on Energy and Environment, in Vienna, Austria (May 18, 2009).
\nHRH called for the establishment of an \u201cEU \u2013 WANA Water and Energy Community\u201d, a supra-national non-partisan body \u2013 an institutional framework providing new incentives for the management and protection of common resources.
\nPrince El Hassan stressed the need for solidarity with the poor through establishing a Cohesion Fund. \u201cThe world\u2019s poor have a legitimate right to and need for increased energy services that are affordable, healthier, more reliable and more sustainable. We can no longer view the world\u2019s poor as collateral damage and externalities falling beyond the bounds of our own harmonious social systems. We must ensure that the most marginalized and vulnerable of our population are involved as stakeholders in their own development,\u201d HRH said.
\nHRH also called for a \u201cRegional Security Organisation (RSO) that adheres to the \u2018new security thinking\u2019 – It would be the mandate of this organisation to create a conference on trans-border security and cooperation, as well as to develop \u2018smart power\u2019 trans-border security and stability agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n
On their visit to Vienna, TRH Prince El Hassan and Princess Sarvath were received by Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Austrian National Council President Barbara Prammer.
\nIn addition, the Prince attended a meeting of the Austrian Chapter of the Club of Rome, and addressed the Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue.<\/p>\n
(Amman 25 May 2009)<\/p>\n
Marwan Hamdan
\nPress Secretary of HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal
\nMajlis Elhassan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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