Chair of the State of Qatar for Islamic Area Studiesカタールチェア

This study aims to investigate the consciousness and behavior regarding university degrees in the Middle East by applying a quantitative and qualitative approach to five countries in the region.

Middle Eastern countries have witnessed phenomena such as a rapid increase in university degree holders, a mismatch between education and demand in the labor market, a stagnation of the labor market, high unemployment rates among university graduates, and overeducation (over qualification). Such phenomena have undermined the effectiveness of university degrees in obtaining employment and the social status associated with it, though the extent of these phenomena varies by country. Paradoxically, the more the value of university degrees in the labor market depreciates, the more people seek higher education degrees.

Degree inflation and over-education are rampant in the region, and people have realized that a degree no longer guarantees a job, social status, or a bright future. Nevertheless, the number of people seeking degrees has not decreased, and the government continues to build more higher learning institutions to meet people’s demands.

To identify the reasons for this mysterious phenomenon, this study will address the following questions. Why do people seek a degree even though degree-based meritocracy is not fully established and the opportunities for getting a prestigious job are scarce? Why do more women seek a university degree even though their labor participation rate is much lower than that of men? Do men and women expect the same benefit from a university degree? Why are people asked to obtain a university degree, although it does not necessarily guarantee higher social status? Why do people think having a degree itself is valuable? To what extent do people believe their degree will foster possibilities in their life? If there is anything other than a profession and social prestige that a degree engenders, what is it? We hope this study will deepen our understanding of the attitudes and awareness of Middle Eastern people toward degrees.

• Principal researcher
  Keiko Sakurai, Professor, School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University
• Co-researcher
  Woohyang Chloe Sim, Assistant Professor, School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University

The aim of this project is to understand the origins in the crusading period of Middle Eastern perspectives on non-Muslims and their development from that time until today. Focusing primarily on Arabic language chronicles, it will explore how the crusaders are presented, where and how the images ideas and tropes originated, and the impact they have had and continue to have on Muslim relations with non-Muslims today.

Building on the recent success of scholars around the world, the main questions that it will address are:

• How did Muslim writers describe the inhabitants of Europe during the time of the Crusades?
• Where do the images, ideas, tropes and so on that they used originate and how and how far did they use completely new ideas or alter pre-existing ones? How have Muslim writers used and reused each other’s works regarding the Europeans and how has that impacted the historical record?
• To what extent have issues related to internal Muslim politics rather than actual relations with Europeans determined how the latter are portrayed in writings from the medieval period and beyond?
• How and to what extent have the images of Europeans created in the collective memory of the Middle East changed from the end of the crusading period until today?
• How do they continue to impact relations between Muslims and non-Muslims today?

In order to answer these questions, this project will produce a number of related outputs based on a close reading of the evidence from across time and space, taking an inter- and multidisciplinary approach based particularly on history, historiography, and area studies. It will focus particularly on Arabic chronicles, in addition to other sources such as poetry, religious texts, and travel accounts. In so doing, its outputs are expected to help lay the foundations for future studies by scholars in a range of fields, including Middle Eastern history, Arabic historiography, crusader studies, and contemporary Islamic studies.

• Principle Investigator
  Alexander Mallett, Associate Professor, School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University