The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 1/24/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy [Click to enlarge]

The foundation of the C.V. Starr-Middlebury School Abroad in the Middle East marks the first such language school to be opened by any American institution, the College announced on Jan. 18. The school, located in Alexandria, Egypt and affiliated with Alexandria University, will offer courses to an estimated 15-20 students per semester beginning in the fall of 2007.

"The fact that we will have this sort of program - as far as we know, the only of its kind - will put Middlebury out front of other institutions when it comes to demonstrating the seriousness with which we take engaging the rest of the world in general, and the Middle East in particular," said Jeffrey Cason, dean of International Programs. "We have been building our academic year Arabic program for several years now and the number of students taking Arabic has increased every year. We would expect that to continue to grow, especially with the addition of the program in Alexandria."

The establishment of the school in Egypt follows an exploration period in which the College examined a number of sites for the possible location of the school. In the spring of 2006, Dean of Language Schools and Schools Abroad Michael Geisler, then Director of Off Campus Studies David Macey and Director of Arabic Language School Mahmoud Abdalla visited 10 universities in four countries in the Middle East to narrow down the list of potential sites for the school. After a follow-up visit by College officials in October 2006 to schools in Syria, Jordan and Egypt, Alexandria was chosen as the site for the new Arabic School Abroad.

"All three locations would have provided good environments for our program," said Geisler, "but we had to make a choice and decided that Alexandria, with its two millennia of history and cultural tradition and the superb library, was the best place to establish our first program in the Middle East."

With the addition of the new Arabic School, the College currently operates study abroad programs in 30 cities in 12 countries around the world. While the College's program in the Middle East is the first of its kind, Geisler mentioned the potential for the opening of more schools in the region.

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