The reasons Emirati men struggle at university

Dubai: Crossing borders can be dangerous such as at the border between West and East Berlin during the Cold War years (1961-1989) where hundreds died attempting to cross into freedom. There is a sense that you are leaving somewhere ‘known and safe’ for a place ‘much less known and uncertain’.

Crossing cultural borders create similar feelings of unease. I found that the congruency or match between the pre-dominantly Arabic world associated with Emirati families and government schooling and the largely dominant Western culture in colleges of higher education was broadly related to the students’ self-perceived level of preparedness for academic study and the competence of Emirati students’ in their second language of English. Using data from a student survey administered to all new students at a college of higher education in October 2011, I described four types of cultural border crossing experience along with the relative percentage of students placed in each category:

1. Smooth – high congruency between the two worlds (23 per cent)

2. Managed – reasonable congruency between the two worlds (52 per cent)

3. Difficult – low congruency between the two worlds (23 per cent)

4. Impossible – little congruency between the two worlds (2 per cent)

Generally, the closer the match between the students’ culture and that of the college of higher education, the easier the border crossing experience. The majority of students arrive with a view that this new world can be ‘managed’ through various behaviour and attitude adjustments. Overall, the failure of students to make satisfactory border crossings to college life and the absence of a ‘sense of belonging’ was found to begin a process of departure manifested by increasing absenteeism leading to eventual withdrawal — this occurred more frequently with students placed in the lower levels of an academic bridge programme where cultural and linguistic ‘discomfort’ were felt the most.

Of the 116 new students who showed up on Day 1 in September 2011, only 32 remained by the end of the academic year in June 2012 with seven students progressing into their career programmes. Of those 77 students who withdrew during the year, twice as many of these students were placed in the lowest levels of an academic bridge programme — there was a staggering 97 per cent loss in the lowest level alone. The message is stark — the lowest level students (most ill-prepared and ill-equipped for higher education study) have only a three per cent chance of making it through their first year in higher education compared with a 50 per cent chance if placed in higher levels.

Main factors – parenting and schooling

I found three main factors contributing towards this situation:

1. Neglectful parenting — 15 per cent of students returned home each evening during the week to a household with either one or both parents working away in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. Members of the Fujairah Police confirmed social problems associated with increasing absent parenting — truancy, drugs, and illicit relationships.

2. Woeful school experience — I interviewed a rich array of individuals involved in the government education sector, from high school teachers to Ministry of Education officials. Many spoke of the lack of motivation among the male students. One official bemoaned other factors such as the unattractiveness of the school system and curriculum, and the indifference of parents.

3. A rentier effect that encourages young male Emiratis to forego higher education in favour of leaving home for high salary/low accountability starting positions with the UAE military and Abu Dhabi Police.

Factors that hinder and enhance the learning experience

Twice as many factors hinder student learning than enhance it — those hindering factors include the effects of neo-indigeneity, lack of parental interest, poor academic preparation for higher education, difficult cultural border crossing experiences, unsettled start in their first year at university with many still actively seeking employment while erratically attending lessons, low motivation, resilience and persistence, and an over-reliance on surface learning strategies.

Factors working in the students’ favour include teachers’ feedback that they are genuine, friendly and respectful, learning styles and multiple intelligences surveys hint at untapped potential, and students do not seem to consistently conform to expected Arab cultural patterns as described by Hofstede (collectivist, high uncertainty avoidance, and a synchronic/short-term perception of time) — are we witnessing here a neo-indigenous effect produced by globalisation and the UAE’s own ‘cultural tsunami’?

■Peter Hatherley-Greene has lived in the UAE since 1995. He used to work for one of the UAE’s largest post-secondary educational providers but resigned to pursue his PhD research begun in 2004.

Up Ahead

Next week

■ A look at the mainly Western college faculty and an exploration of the factors they bring that both enhance and hinder student learning.