Professor: ‘certification’ mania hobbles Middle East development

Leading scholar says region must place more importance on liberal arts, not just science and engineering, to build better societies

Published on
April 8, 2021
Last updated
July 16, 2025
Libyan pharmacy students pose for a selfie during their graduation ceremony at the Al-Arab University in Benghazi, 2016
Source: Getty

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Reader's comments (3)

An interesting article, although I think an inclusive approach that embraces #Arts would give a balanced perspective to learners #STEAM.
A degree in a STEM subject will also give the learner the opportunity to acquire critical thinking and problem solving skills, thank you very much!
It seems to me there some degree of contradiction between the beginning of the article and its end with regard to what the professor said. He starts by saying how the liberal arts are important (which of course they are) but he ends with an example that underlines the importance of STEM studies, i.e. the development of the covid vaccine, without any role for the liberal arts in that.

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