Publications - Book Chapters

Internationalizing Western Higher Education: Observations from the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum and the Engineering Ethics Program at Texas A&M University at Qatar

Hassan Bashir, Phillip W. Gray and Hamza bin Jehangir

in: Excellence and Impact of Research at Texas A&M University at Qatar. (Eds.)M. H. Weichold, Kenneth, Hall and Eyad, Masad (Doha, Qatar: QScience, 2013) Pages 211-221

One of the most prominent consequences of globalization has been the export of western higher education to non-western locales. The significance of this export can be judged from the frequency with which education is now discussed as a main issue in forums such as the GATT and WTO. At the heart of these discussions are questions related to commodification of education in a global market place on the one hand and treating the delivery of provision of education as just another commercial transaction. The trend towards commodification
of education seems particularly problematic when viewed in context of the assertion that the spread of western higher education has failed to take into account the contextual nature of higher education. Western higher education has evolved in a specific socio-cultural context and engages, as well as responds, to the needs and the requirements of western societies. However, when this format of higher education is exported into non-western regions, it crosses cultural boundaries and becomes decontextualized. This paper argues that this
transfer of western higher education, when viewed in context of the interest in technical professions such as engineering, creates multiple challenges. We use Texas A&M at Qatar as our case study and seek to highlight the nature of an ethical engineer in the profile. In order to clarify our argument, we use the Engineering Ethics program at Texas A&M at Qatar to identify the challenges, which the export of western higher education creates. We contend that the students in the branch campus in Qatar seem to view the “ethical” side of their engineering degrees as a necessary evil while taking keen interest in the technical courses of their respective majors. This attitude of “necessary evil” creates hurdles in installing the values and norms of an ethical engineer
which gives birth to broader questions regarding the spread of western education.

Introduction: Inter professional Ethics and Globalization,

by Hassan Bashir, Phillip W. Gray and Eyad Masad

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Defeasible Logic in Contemporary Bioethics: On the Relevance of Both Causistry and Islamic Ijtihad,

by Norman K. Swazo

Globalizing Feminist Bioethics of Care,

by Rosemarie Tong

Ethical Research in Law and Politics: Methodological Pitfalls,

by Andrej Zwitter

Revisioning International Law on Intellectual Property: Towards a Joint East-West Perspective,

by Ahmed Bashir

The Status of Professional Engineering Ethics: Evolution and Challenges,

by Sikander Ahmed Shah

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​Must the Camera Add Twenty Pounds of Ethics? Reconsidering Ethics for Human Participants Research in Visual Social Sciences,

by Sarah R. Jordan and Phillip W. Gray

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The Tragic as a Response to the Transference of Western Notions in Engineering Ethics in Saudi Arabia: A Practical Dimension,

by Mohammad Haris

Ethical Issues in the Spread of English as a Global Language: Is the Spread of English a Cure or a Curse?

by Zohreh Eslami

U.S. Engagement in International Activity in Engineering Ethics,
by Rachelle Hollander

Global Engineering and National Technology Policies: Is There a Conflict?,

by Hal Salzman and Leonard Lynn

International Ethics and Failures: Case Studies,

by Norb Delatte
 

Global Engineering Ethics: Re-inventing the Wheel?,
by Michael Davis
 

Social, Cultural, Political and Religious Constraints on Designing an Ethnical Framework for Engineering in a Global Context,

by Noreen Sugrue and Tim McCarthy
 

The Significance of Context in the Reconstitution of Notions of Moral Responsibility in Engineering Ethics,
by Muhammad Haris

Foundations of Global Ethics for Engineering,

by Peter Kilpatrick

International Ethics: A Case Study in the Construction Industry,
by George Wang

Engineering and Climate Change: Why the Choice of Ethical Perspective Matters,

by Khalid Mir

Enriching Engineering Ethics with Development Ethics: A Proposal to Draw on the CA,

by Ilse Oosterlaken

Resources for Overcoming the Challenges of Teaching Engineering Ethics in an International Context,
by Brock Barry

Responsible Conduct of Research Training for Engineers: Adapting Research Ethics Training for Engineering Graduate Students,
by Sara Jordan and Phil Gray

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A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Engineering Ethics Education: Chile and United States,

by Ruth I. Murrugarra and William A. Wallace

Integrating the Ethics Dimension in Undergraduate Teaching in the College of Engineering at Qatar University: Challenges and Future
Outlook,

by Ramazan Kahraman and Majeda Khraisheh

Training Responsible Engineers for Global Contexts,

by William Frey

Toward a Global Engineering (Ethics) Curriculum,
by Eugene Moriarty