Rae Roberts will leave for the United Arab Emirates in less than a month, and she has been thinking about the heat. Although D.C. area weather may be warm, an e-mail Roberts’ husband sent her described the heat index in the UAE as 104 this time of year.
"That classifies as extreme danger," said Roberts, laughing. For the moment, she sat in an air-conditioned office at George Mason University.
Roberts is one of the first people to head up George Mason’s new international campus in Ras Al Khaimah, about an hour away from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. She is the director of the Ras Al Khaimah campus’ Foundations Program, which helps college-age students adjust to learning in an American university setting.
"The project is set up to help students entering into the university (in Ras Al Khaimah) who don’t have high enough TOEFL scores or who don’t have strong enough academic skills to learn in an all-English environment," said Roberts.
The Foundations Program in the UAE is similar to a program at Fairfax’s George Mason campus, called the English Language Institute (ELI).
"The program will get students to a level academically so that they can compete," said Roberts.
The Foundations Program opens on Sept. 18, but the George Mason University Ras Al Khaimah campus will not be ready until the fall of 2006. Once the university opens in the UAE, Roberts said, George Mason students will be able to study at both campuses easily, using the same syllabi and grading systems.
"The goal is a free flow between campuses," said Kathy Trump, ELI director.
The Ras Al Khaimah campus is George Mason’s first overseas campus, said Trump, and it has advantages for U.S. students as well.
"Imagine what an advantage a business student would have," said Trump. "Entering the world of international business with experience (in the UAE) on a resume, with a knowledge of Arabic and of that part of the world."
The Foundations Program will also help to bring Western and Middle Eastern cultures together, said Roberts.
"UAE schools are more traditional in setting, with more rote learning," said Roberts. "The instructor is often the key person in the classroom. Here, very often students are the key people in the classroom, and the program will help them deal with that in an American university."
Also, said Roberts, the Foundations Program may be the first time some students will be learning in a classroom with members of the opposite sex. Some schools in the UAE are segregated by gender, she said
"The UAE really knows very well that it needs to upgrade education opportunities for its students," said Trump. For Emiratis to have a stable place in a world economy, she said, many feel that they must branch out in the job market, and that education is a way to do this.
For Roberts, who will be living in the UAE for at least a few years, the entire experience will be a learning one.
"Right now, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed," she said. "But I’m excited."