Along with the changes that have taken place after the January 25th revolution, the American University in Cairo also witnessed change. A- U-C's Sara El Kady reports.
Medhat Haroun
Credits:
Thanks to interviewees: Professors: Medhat Haroun, Mahmoud El Lozy, Mohamed Selim and Denise Waszkowski; and student Ahmed Saafan.
Mahmoud El Lozy
Special thanks to Mom who has been handling my preparations and facilitating the atmosphere for me to work, My brother who kept critiquing my work, Lojain and Hesham who pushed me to get the documentary done in May and professor Kim Fox who taught us such a wonderful skill.
Sound bites from CNN News Reports are included in this documentary.
Mohamed Selim
Music: Khaled El Bakry’s Nasseeni el donia ; Final Fantasy To Zanarkand’s Soundtrack; Enya’s Only Time; Batman’s Arkhum Asylum Sountrack. The Chronicles of Narnia’s Soundtrack. Aziz El Shafei and Ramy Gamal’s Ya Blady; Hani Adel and Amir Eid’s Sout el horreya
OMAR: "Uh… I trust it because it help us in managerial affairs and helps stability of the country.
And I don’t trust it because Hony Mubarak is originally from the army and he’s friends with Tantawi and Musheer Tantawi left him time to hide his money and uh.. and cover up for his corrupt stuff.”
"So you are a student in?"
OMAR: "FUE"
"Future University?"
OMAR: "Yeah"
"What’s your major?"
OMAR: "Engineering"
HEBA: "My name is Heba. Uh… I… I working as an admin assistant in Telecom Company."
"Do you trust the army?"
HEBA: "Yeah, sure."
"Why?"
HEBA: "Because they support us in a lot of bad time… and that’s it."
DAKAR: "Tamer Ahmed El Dakar; I’m a geologist."
"Do you trust the army?"
DAKAR: "Sure"
"Why?"
DAKAR: "Because it is the army. It is the only one we can trust on."
"What’s your name?"
FATMA: "Fatma"
"What’s your profession?"
FATMA: "I’m not working."
"Do you trust the army?"
FATMA: "Yes."
"Why?"
FATMA: "I think they try to make the country more safer for people to live in. I think it’s just maybe they try to just be more… make it a country more independence more civilized so people make the right decision to make the new president good for this country."
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Office of Student Development at The American University in Cairo WRAP Ibrahim 12-04-2011
LEAD-IN: Questions marks are starting to rise when it comes to The American University in Cairo (A-U-C)’s Office of Student Development (O-S-D). Students are starting to probe its role and whether it's professional enough. A-U-C’s Sara El Kady reports.
The role of The Office of Student Development (O-S-D) at The American University in Cairo (A-U-C) is to help the students in extracurricular activities ensuring that they gain experience in the real world and have hands on practice in several fields in order to develop a well-rounded personality.
Several administration and staff members praise the (O-S-D).
HAROUN: "Oh, The (O-S-D) has done a fantastic job. Umm, I think our students here at (A-U-C) are benefiting a lot from that. There is nothing like it in the other, uhhh, universities,” (00:26)
said Medhat Haroun, (A-U-C) Provost.
Although the OSD is considered to be offering the top guidance in leading students to the professional world, they can still have more to offer, but they are trapped into believing that they can’t. Dalia Issa, Associate Director for Student Organizations, said:
ISSA: "We try as much as possible to uhh, give the students a glimpse of the real world. But then again, this is not the real world; this is only a simulation. It won't be a real world until he graduates." (00:13)
By believing so, the (O-S-D) gives itself no space to expand till it reaches the professional level. Having said that students will not gain the professional skills till they graduate, Issa made it clear that alumni are the ones withholding the professional skills. However, the (O-S-D) doesn’t utilize those alumni in such a way, as to know the missing skills that can be offered to undergraduates.
The professional level is only a step away from the current status of the (O-S-D). The alumni association is already active, yet it doesn’t play an important role in (O-S-D). This association offers a program called “Loyal for Life A-U-C-ian” which aims at encouraging alumni involvement in the A-U-C community. Its goals are to promote class identity among alumni, loyalty towards AUC, a culture of volunteerism and to keep alumni engaged with the university. If the O-S-D utilized such program in a way as to help students benefit from the skills of those alumni, who have practiced the professional life, they may actually reach a professional level and not limit it to a simulation.
Sara El Kady A-U-C News.
The documentary is discussing Israel's Muslim Soldiers. It starts off with the memorial scene, which gets the audience in the mood, then a brief background on Muslim soldiers who join the Israeli Army. The documentary mainly aims at shedding light on different perceptions on Muslims being Israeli soldiers. The documentary generates a holistic picture in which Israeli officials, the soldiers, their families, religious leaders and Muslim-Israeli citizens share their thoughts about this job.
The documentary is very interesting, as the topic is very unique. It is the first time I know that that are Muslim soldiers in the Israeli army. The oddness of the issue allows audience to remain alert throughout the documentary to be able to grasp the whole idea from the experiences of people who are actually in the scene.
The sound quality is perfect. It is very clear regardless of the strange accents they are using. The Nat sound is perfectly used. Starting off with the opening of the memorial and the Qur’an added to the intensity of the documentary and setting the mood for the audience.
The narrator’s voice is clear. The pace is slow, yet the issue itself was magnetizing that I was fully attended for the whole 22 minutes.
The length of the documentary is good, since it allowed to include several people of different perceptions along with the inclusion of background information.
The writing quality was good as I was able to fully understand what the story is about from an objective angle and was not left out with unanswered questions.
The documentary began strongly with setting up the mood for the topic by using Nat sound and ended strongly by the well written summary that was narrated.
During those couple of years, 2 very odd events have taken place, the swine flu and the revolution.
According to your experience,
1. What were the effects of those 2 events on the academic semester?
While I wasn’t present during the Swine Flu, I can say that the Revolution posted a challenge to colleges in Egypt and not just at AUC. There were many concerns about opening—namely the safety of the students.
2. Do you recall any other incidents that has… uh, that have had strong impacts on academic semesters?
Well, I am a new teacher at AUC—for that matter, I am new in Egypt. Having taught in California colleges and universities for the past ten years, I cannot recall a single time when the semester was altered due to a catastrophe, so this was a new experience for me.
3. So, how did professors adapt to the revolution?
I think that all professors should find a way to adapt to a changing environment and schedule. If you think about it even if we teach the same subject semester after semester, no two class populations are ever identical. Each grouping of students will be different. So, we have to adapt perhaps even alter our syllabi to reflect a given population.
4. In your opinion, what’s the difference between a standard semester and a semester with such dynamic issues taking place?
First, a standard semester can be boring and predictable. As I mentioned being… before being able to adapt to change is probably a good skill to have—a life skill, for both students and professors.
5. How does this affect your, and your students’ attitude, mood and performance?
Understandably, some students and professors become upset when there are changes. Some time ago, I read an article on ancient Egyptian civilization and the author had questioned as to why the art forms and depictions of royalty hadn’t changed in over 3000 years from the earliest art forms to the art of Cleopatra. Why would that be? Well one theory was that ancient Egyptians believed that it was good –that it was stable- that it gave stability to the civilization –that it was good to practice religious rituals in the same way for all time… And this idea of stability and promoting the status quo was attributed to the concept of Ma’at, you know M A ‘ A T, the goddess with the wings, she is a personification of that. As a Nile people, the ancients Egyptians could depend on the predictable patterns like the flooding of the Nile and the planting and harvesting seasons because they were farmers. Uh, Uh, many can wonder about this, but how much… I wonder this, how much change have Egyptians tolerated over the centuries in the past in comparison to other cultures?
Uh, Nevertheless, because the world is so different today, I think in these times it is an essential skill to be able to adapt to change.
6. Do you think it is better for me, as a student, to study in a steady semester or one with lively actions taking place?
Well, I think if you can adapt to the changes in Egypt, you have gained a skill that you can use throughout life because the world as we know it is highly complex and rapidly changing.
