UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1961-05-25_Page-039

I I - 8 - use all the materials written in Arabic and other languages about the Middle East, but will supply these data inuseable farm to oth~r libraries and research centers in and beyond the Middle East. As a further supplement to the documentatio: service it is ~ssential .(as more extensive work is undertaken on the graduate level) that the University secure the accumulated and continutng current materials of the "Human Relations Area File" (tlCross_Cultural Survey"), II project of the last ten years, centered in New Haven. The American Uni versi ty at Cairo Press has been organiz ed wi thin the past year, with the purpose of stillJ'lllating wri ting and publishing on the part of the Uni versi ty staff Uld of g!'8.dua te students, the various prtnting and publishing activities of the University, and of contributing to the attempt to meet the need of the United Arab Republic for scholarly reports, analyses and materials. While the publicatiops of the Press Should always be more inclusive than the re3earch efforts of the University, it none the l~ss is obvious that as the graduate program develops, and as such special services as the Do~wmentation Center increase in significance, the Fress will also haye new demands p1aced upon it. Univers:Hy ex2211ence reo'E-.res grg~ter re~,9~!.~s to +~!llk:-. cul tural c!!:..~cte:::- ~~-2Pllo~~..t !j$j,...2!.j,h.e-l!.rU:!~E:Uil.~ 'l'he purposes, progralJ1. personnel and location of the University will r..a. turally support any effor-i; the University makes to be more responsive to its multi-cultural character. In fact, if the University does not take these opportu:1ities more seriously, it will be missing one of "the great "by-product" chances to make a major tnQllgh in<U.rect contribution to the current world. While student representat::.on from as many nations as thirty and st3.ff representation from as mar..y as ten ha";oe long characterized the University, and while much of its teaching has be6n in full awareness of its Middle Fast context, instruction has been exclusively in English (14) and the courses in the curriculum hcve frequently borne a strong resemblance to those in any American universi ty, both in subject-matter and stress. The Universi ty intends to alter this practice considerably so as more successfully to educate students into their own culture &nd environment while at the same time it opens their minds to the variety and significance of htiCan experience in other parts of the world. A major instrument in accomplishing this end will be language, with growing competence in both Arabic and English required. ltuch thi~ng ha~ already been done about improvement, in the use of English (15) and a strong beginning has been made in Arabic proficiency, but the two competencies have not been put together in a bi-lingual experience that would continually str(m&JJi ~C'l1 bi-cul tural understandings and "at-hoIOOness." Admissions and placement tests in both languages will be continued, and tests to measure growth in languc.~e facility will have a bearing upon a student's ability to pass from one st~ ge t o another in University studies. (14) Excepting in the department of Arabic Language and Literature. (15) See staff paper entitled IMPROVEMENT OF ENGLISH COMPETENCY February 27 196r:;