2nd seminar of Professors of Sultan Qaboos Academic Chairs

Under the Supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education

Cambridge University hosts the second seminar for professors of Sultan Qaboos Academic Chairs, in the aim of showcasing the pioneering role played by the Academic chairs carrying the name of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said – May God protect Him – distributed all around the world and deepening mutual understanding between cultures in order to disseminate peace and encourage cooperation between the civilizations. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education in cooperation with Sultan Qaboos University, the University of Cambridge organizes the second seminar for professors of Sultan Qaboos Academic Chairs throughout the period extended between the 13^th and 14^th of next November. The seminar will be entitled: “Cutting – Edge Contribution to Middle Eastern Studies” at the British University of Cambridge which encompasses two Sultan Qaboos Academic Chairs. The event’s program will encompass participations through the presentation of scientific papers on Middle Eastern themes and issues and intellectual contributions around them. Those papers shall be submitted by a number of professors of the academic chairs in addition to a number of Omani academics and researchers.

Furthermore, some of these academic chairs specialize in Middle Eastern studies, and Arab and Islamic culture. They exist in different universities: Tokyo, Beijing, Georgetown, Melbourne, Oxford, Cambridge, Leiden University in the Netherlands, Al-Bayt University in Jordan, and the College of William & Mary in the United States of America, in addition to two academic chairs in the field of information technology that were established in the University of Lahore and the University of Karachi. Two additional chairs specialize in environmental issues, one in Utrecht University in the Netherlands and one in the Arabian Gulf University in the Kingdom of Bahrain. As for His Majesty’s chair in the American University of Harvard, it specializes in International Relations.

H.E. Dr. Rawya Saud Al Busaidi, Minister of Higher Education, has attended the preparatory meetings of the seminar that were attended by Dr. Stewart Lang from Cambridge University, Dr. Yasser Sulaiman, professor for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Academic Chair of Modern Arabic Studies at Cambridge University in the UK, and H.E Dr. Ali Bin Saud Al Bimani, President of Sultan Qaboos University. This meeting witnessed discussions about the different details related to the seminar’s title and themes, in addition to the detailed procedures and arrangements pertaining to the suggested program for this seminar’s activities.

A committee under the chairmanship of H.E. Dr. Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Sarmi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, with the membership of other relevant authorities, oversees the follow-up of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos academic chairs’ activities. This committee follows up the activities undertaken by the professors for these academic chairs, which number has reached 16, and gets informed about the extent of accomplishment of their expected objectives. The committee also studies the projects of establishment of new academic chairs which are compliant with the conditions and standards set forth in this regard.

In a statement by H.E Minister of Higher Education concerning the seminar, she announced the following:

“Pertaining to education, since the beginning of the new prosperous era launched by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said – May God protect him – with a significant motto and an outstanding ambition which we Omanis all remember very well and with big pride: “We will teach our children even if under the trees”, H.M.’s vision embarked from under the local trees and reached the libraries and hallways of the most prestigious universities in the world where our children acquired education and knowledge.

Furthermore, concerning education, H.M.’s vision did not stop at the local level, it crossed our national borders and reached the international level. The pillar of this orientation was that knowledge is a means and a methodology to achieve communication between the different cultures and civilizations in an era of conflict and miscommunication.

H.M.’ position was and still is to make knowledge a means to achieve convergence, rapprochement and understanding, instead of hatred and enmity between the different peoples and nations of this world. Based upon this, H.M,’s orders came in concerning the establishment of a number of academic chairs under His name – May God protect Him – in the most prestigious scientific and academic institutions in the East and the West of the world, in the different fields of research, whether pertaining to human and social sciences or natural sciences.

This scientific seminar is held in this framework, two years after the first seminar for these chairs, which was hosted by Sultan Qaboos University. Cambridge University in the UK has welcomed this opportunity to be the second seminar’s host. In fact, this university is considered one the oldest and best higher education institutions in the world. It was established in 1209 and encompasses Sultan Qaboos Academic Chair for Modern Arabic Studies and Sultan Qaboos Chair for Abrahamic religions and common values. It is considered the second oldest English-speaking university in the world, and some of its academics have received 61 Nobel Peace Prizes.

Through this step, those academic chairs carrying the name of His Majesty – May God protect Him – confirm the importance of the cultural dimension of their roles and contribution in highlighting the Sultanate’s role in developing human knowledge, and working on ensuring the convergence between the Arab culture and the other cultures. This prepares for networking and cooperation between people in order to reach their engagements through a constructive civilized dialogue.”

H.E. Minister of Higher Education has also indicated that “the diversified fields of research supported by the academic chairs open up a wide door towards the adoption by the academic chairs’ seminars of different and diversified topics. The topic of pioneering contributions in Middle Eastern studies was selected as a title for this seminar, knowing that this is an important topic. We hope that the papers that will be submitted by a prominent group of specialists in this field, will be an added value on the scientific and research levels. We hope that this second seminar will pursue the cumulative building of what the first seminar has established, wishing that the researches’ and recommendations’ results will contribute in providing new, beneficial and creative perceptions around the seminar’s topic which undoubtedly stems from the scientific interests of the academic chairs, related to Arabic, Islamic culture, Middle Eastern and natural resources studies.”

In the end, H.E. noted that this seminar contributes, through education, in defining Arab and Islamic cultures. It sheds the lights on the pioneering contributions in Middle Eastern studies, which enriches cultural and intellectual communication between civilizations, thus building a unique approach for the Sultanate in terms of communication between communities and introducing others to our culture according to a well-established and ambitious academic and scientific reference. In the end of her statement, H.E. wished full success for the seminar.