Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the cultural orientation of the students in the faculties of education in Egypt towards the phenomenon of globalization as manifested in the visions of the professors and the students, and the curricula of these faculties. Thus, the study aimed to explore to what extent the cultural attitudes of the prospective teachers and the professors in the faculties of education in Egypt motivate/ hinder the globalization of teacher education.

The second section presented the theoretical perspective, which is the transformationalists view of globalization. This perspective represents a mid-way point between the Hyper- globalists and Pessimist globalists. Transformationalists believe that globalization does not necessarily lead to the supremacy of the culture of the western world, but rather it leads to the exchange and integration of cultures, and thus eastern civilization can also affect Western civilization. This section also discusses the different views of globalization and their impact on higher education, and the importance of globalizing the teacher education. Finally, this section discussed the initiatives of reforming the faculties of education in Egypt in the context of globalization, exploring the actual reforms in the governmental universities in response to these initiatives and the current challenges.

The method used consisted of I) Document analysis of the curricula of the faculties of education that discuss the topic of globalization. II) Individual interviews to explore the cultural attitudes of both students and professors of the faculties of education. Finally, the thematic approach was adopted to analyze the transcribed data.

The findings of the analysis of the documents indicated the incompatibility of what the students of the governmental faculties of education in Egypt taught about globalization and the new policies of the modern state that encourage the globalization of higher education. In spite of this, the findings of the fieldwork indicated the existence of a positive attitude towards globalization in the faculties of education in Egypt, and serious attempts by the current leadership of government colleges to change the regulations of faculties of education to adopt the credit hour system and to enable change of the current curricula that all the participants described as outdated. The current leaderships are also seeking to establish expanded partnerships with foreign universities to develop education in the college. The findings of the study also indicated that the presence of members of the fanatic Islamic groups in the leadership positions in the faculty of education before the revolution of 2014 had prevented the development of education in the college for decades.

Keywords: globalization, internationalization, attitudes, higher education reform

Department

International & Comparative Education Department

Degree Name

MA in International & Comparative Education

Graduation Date

1-2021

Submission Date

1-26-2021

First Advisor

Thomas Wolsey

Second Advisor

Ibrahim M. Karkouti

Third Advisor

Teklu Abate

Committee Member 1

Thomas Wolsey

Committee Member 2

Ibrahim M. Karkouti

Committee Member 3

Teklu Abate

Extent

146 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

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