A New Initiative at the Abdulaziz Saud Albabtain Cultural Foundation: Establishment of "Arab Cultural Chairs" at Universities Around the World
April 24, 2017
Abdulaziz Saud Albabtain Cultural Foundation has recently launched a new series of chairs in several universities focusing on the impact of culture, its history, and its role in promoting peace and coexistence among peoples. These chairs include topics on contemporary Arab studies and Arabic language instruction.
So far, these chairs have been established in Spain, Italy, China, Afghanistan, Togo, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Chad, Mauritania, Sudan, and Djibouti. The primary objective of these chairs is to disseminate Arab culture and its sciences. Albabtain Center for Intercultural Dialogue at the Foundation oversees these initiatives and has previously established numerous chairs for Arabic language in universities worldwide. Additionally, the "Abdulaziz Saud Albabtain Chair for Arabic Language" is offered at the University of Barcelona, marking the first instance of such a chair being introduced in Europe. Furthermore, the Foundation has also conducted training courses for Arabic language teachers to enhance their capabilities in this field.
Abdulaziz Saud Albabtain, the Chairman of the Foundation, stressed the importance of spreading Arab culture with its humanistic values throughout history and the present, advocating for coexistence and peace among peoples. He emphasized that Arab culture has never been a culture of wars or conflicts, and it is crucial for this message to reach the world.
Albabtain further stated that numerous universities worldwide can serve as gateways to reach vast audiences and as such, they established the Abdulaziz Saud Albabtain Chair for Peace at Roma Tre State University, as well as another institute dedicated to Arabic language and culture in Burkina Faso and a department for Arabic language at the University of Comoros.
It's worth mentioning that the Abdulaziz Saud Albabtain Cultural Foundation embarked on its mission to promote the Arabic language since its establishment in 1989. The Foundation has established several Arabic Language Chairs around the world, with the most prominent being the "Abdulaziz Saud Albabtain Laudian Chair" at the University of Oxford. This chair, founded in 1636, faced recent challenges but was revitalized by Albabtain, resulting in the prestigious University of Oxford naming the chair after him. So far, thousands of students have benefited from the Albabtain Arabic Language Chairs.