A delegation of Scottish students led by Wendy Alexander MSP set off for Dubai this weekend to take part in a unique conference event where all the participants are female.
They’ll join 1000 other students from 36 countries at the “Women as Global Leaders: educating the next generation” conference that has been organised by Zayed University, an all-female campus.
The Scots delegation has been put together by Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Dundee who have organised a summer school for students from Zayed during the past two years. The students chosen to take part in the conference come from Al-Maktoum Institute, Dundee University and Aberdeen University.
Those from the Institute are Rosalind Anderson (23) from Dunblane, Sarah Hassan and Ramona Ibrahim, both 25 and both from Egypt. All three are doing an MLitt in Islamic Jerusalem Studies. The Dundee University representatives are Marie-Louise Morcos (21) from Egypt who is studying Politics and International Relations and Mandy Yilmaz (35) from Dundee studying Psychology. Travelling from Aberdeen are Mhairi Ritchie (21) who is doing Religious Studies and Anne Bachman (21) from Colorado who is studying Anthropology.
Ms Alexander is one of the conference’s keynote speakers and will address the event on Wednesday.
Among the other speakers are Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Director-General of the World Health Organisation and former Prime Minister of Norway; Tipper Gore, former mental health policy adviser to President Clinton and the Rt Hon Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada. During the conference the Scottish students will also be making two presentations.
The three from Al-Maktoum Institute will talk about the vision for multiculturalism of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and the Dundee Declaration for the future study of Islam and Muslims.
The students from Dundee and Aberdeen Universities will give a talk on being a female at a Scottish University, looking at how the Scottish educational system provides structures to develop the agenda for women within education and some of the problems encountered.
Speaking before their departure the Scots girls in particular were looking forward to the event. Rosalind said, “By getting this chance to participate in such a high-profile event our group will meet students from around the world to exchange ideas. We hope to come back to Dundee reflecting on the place of women in the world.”
Mandy added, “It’s an honour to represent Dundee University. The city already has strong links with Dubai and I’m sure this event will help us to further strengthen that relationship.” Mhairi said, “It is a tremendous opportunity to represent Aberdeen University and Scotland at the conference. We’re looking forward to experiencing first hand the culture of Dubai and to improve our understanding of what is happening with women’s education in the Arab world.”
Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi, Principal of Al-Maktoum Institute said: “We were delighted to be asked to put together a Scottish delegation for such a high profile event. I’m particularly pleased that Wendy Alexander is able to take part and to lead the delegation for us. I’m confident the group will have a very enjoyable experience and will do Scotland proud with their presentations.”
