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Background to the program
and subject area:
The Department traces its beginnings to 1962, the
year in which the University of Jordan was established. The first department to
be established, the Department of Arabic Language and Literature has also been
the first department of the University of Jordan to offer a Ph.D. Program. Its
staff includes professors Emeritus, former heads of departments & deans as
well as competent associate and assistant professors. Indeed, a good number of
its members (four in all) have made it to the top, becoming presidents of the
University and others head high-ranking institutions in the country. It also
has a few M.A. and Ph.D students studying abroad. All staff members are highly
qualified, holding their Ph.D. degrees from Arab, European and American
universities, thus achieving a great degree of diversity and integration. The
current number of staff is 30 from different ranks. The Department is also
endeavoring to update its programs in the fields of linguistics, literature,
and rhetoric and to keep abreast with recent developments in the Arab world and
abroad. In addition, it has followed a steady policy of recruiting the most
distinguished academics and of participating in local, regional, and
international conferences. The Department organizes a bi-annual conference on
one of the core-issues related to Arabic Linguistics and Literature. It has
also, among other groups, organized three exhibitions for the Arabic Papyri.
The first at Jordan University, the second at Yarmouk University, and the third
at King Faisal center for Research and Islamic Studies in Saudi Arabia
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Vision statements of the
program:
To study the branches of Arabic language and
literature in a scientific manner, following rigorous methodological plans that
align with the developments of the modern age, and that activate the roles
entrusted to an ancient language and a literature that embodies human values,
thus enriching the Arab and Islamic nations with learners and researchers who
possess the cognitive competencies and linguistic and cultural skills necessary
to realize the mission of the Arabic language.
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Mission statements of the program:
The founding of the department of Arabic language
and literature is associated with the founding of the University of Jordan,
thus it is not surprising that the first chairman of the department, Professor
Nassir al-Din al-Asad, was also the first president of the University of
Jordan. Since its beginnings, the department of Arabic has represented the
essence of a long-standing university tradition, where the concept of the
university’s ‘will’ is manifested in the fact that all decision-making
processes are handled by several councils and boards within the university;
beginning with departmental boards, faculty boards, and ending with several
university boards and councils. Needless to mention, all these councils and
boards comprise faculty members, which makes this tradition, in addition to
other factors, responsible for endowing the department and the university the
distinguished rank they together enjoy.
1. Developing knowledge in the various branches
and levels of the Arabic language, the eras and genres of Arabic literature,
and the methodologies of research, and reflection on linguistic phenomena and
their sciences, as well as the styles and criticism of literature, both
classical and modern.
2.
Providing Jordanian, Arab, and global communities with specialists in Arabic
language and literature to meet the essential needs of education, learning,
media, society, and human culture
. 3. Consolidating a rigorous and well-founded
scientific methodology among researchers in the various branches and levels of
the Arabic language, as well as in Arabic literature and its genres.
4.
Establishing an interdisciplinary knowledge framework among students enrolled
in the department’s programs and its graduates, to foster the necessary
awareness of the interrelations between Arabic language and literature and
other related fields such as history, psychology, and sociology
. 5. Producing sound scientific research that
addresses the fundamental issues of the Arabic language and discusses the
questions of Arabic literature, classical and modern, to connect them with the
broader civilizational context of the Arab and Islamic nations.