After three years of controversy surrounding the Jazan campus in Saudi Arabia, Algonquin believes its recent foray into Kuwait will be an easier product sell to the public.
“The level of infrastructure is higher and the rules around women are different,” said Doug Wotherspoon, vice president of international, communications and strategic priorities.
The Kuwaiti campus is coed, although males and females cannot attend classes together.
Wotherspoon believes this is an improvement over the situation in Jazan.
“Even though the classes are segregated, the cafeteria and hallways are not,” he said. “In Saudi Arabia the whole campus is segregated.”
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia may rely on the same resource to sustain their economy, but Wotherspoon believes their environments and approaches to education vary significantly.
“A city-state with oil is different than a large country with oil,” he said. “We’re in a rural, remote environment in Jazan, whereas Kuwait is a city-state.”
The quality of incoming Kuwaiti students is better than originally anticipated. Wotherspoon attributes this to Kuwait’s highly developed school system.
“Kuwait has far more advanced elementary and high school systems (than Jazan),” he said. “In Saudi Arabia, language skills are completely different. So we’re getting much higher quality students.”
As a result the Kuwaiti campus has followed a more robust curriculum.
“In Kuwait they have computer technician and software development programs,” Wotherspoon said. “In Jazan they have electrical engineering.”
Furthermore the college’s faculty union has expressed hope that the Kuwait campus will be a safer place than Jazan.
Vice president Jack Wilson, a vocal critic of the Jazan campus, takes comfort knowing faculty members will be safer in Kuwait.
“Unlike Jazan, Kuwait is not in close proximity to an active civil war (in Yemen),” he said. “There are no warnings I am aware of by either the American or Canadian authorities about the potential for terrorist threats in the immediate vicinity.”
While he remains apprehensive about Algonquin’s role in the region, Wilson believes Kuwait is the safer option.
“Although there are serious human rights concerns in Kuwait,” he said, “they are not as grim as Saudi Arabia.”