The overall theme of this conference is social change. This paper focus on one, however important... more The overall theme of this conference is social change. This paper focus on one, however important, factor behind social change in the Gulf countries, namely that of education. Each of the Gulf countries have embarked on a journey to transform from their oil-based economies into knowledge-based economies. Recognizing that creating a knowledge-based economy encompass far more than increasing the number of people in a society that have obtained a university degree, the magnitude of education each citizen receives and not least the quality of that education is an significant element in increasing the stock of knowledge in a country. Education is furthermore recognized as an important factor in social changes processes in that it fosters significant changes in people's insight, believes and perceptions and as such acts as an important factor behind the transformation of cultural and social institutions. A decade ago, education not least in the MENA region ranked high on the agenda of...
The overall theme of this conference is social change. This paper focus on one, however important... more The overall theme of this conference is social change. This paper focus on one, however important, factor behind social change in the Gulf countries, namely that of education. Each of the Gulf countries have embarked on a journey to transform from their oil-based economies into knowledge-based economies. Recognizing that creating a knowledge-based economy encompass far more than increasing the number of people in a society that have obtained a university degree, the magnitude of education each citizen receives and not least the quality of that education is an significant element in increasing the stock of knowledge in a country. Education is furthermore recognized as an important factor in social changes processes in that it fosters significant changes in people's insight, believes and perceptions and as such acts as an important factor behind the transformation of cultural and social institutions. A decade ago, education not least in the MENA region ranked high on the agenda of...
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