Humanities and social science courses in undergraduate engineering curricula: The case of the Arabian Gulf

Abstract

A comparative study was conducted between the minimum required number of humanities and social science credits for graduation at top-tier undergraduate universities in the US and similar, English-medium universities in the Arabian Gulf. It was found that on average the US universities required students to complete a higher proportion of humanities and social science courses than comparable institutions in the Gulf region. This finding is attributable to a range of social, cultural and pedagogical factors including, but not limited to, the traditional, conservative nature of societies in the Gulf.

Keywords:

• culture
• Arabian Gulf
• humanities
• social sciences
• tradition
• engineering

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express his gratitude to the journal's editor and the anonymous referees for their helpful advice and comments.