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The
Association of Professors of English and Translation at Arab
Universities was established during the First International Conference
on Arabic-English Contrastive and Comparative Studies, which was held at
the
University of
Jordan during the period
23-27 August 1997. More than 150 professors and researchers
representing most Arab countries participated in this conference.
The participants came from the following Arab countries: Jordan,
Palestine,
Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, United
Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Egypt, Sudan,
Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya
In
fact the idea of establishing an association for the professors of the
English at Arab Universities was discussed in previous
conferences, specifically that which was held at the
University of
Jordan on the Problems of
Teaching English Language and Literature at Arab Universities in 1981.
A special meeting was also held for this
purpose at
Kuwait
University in 1982. In that
meeting, there was unanimous agreement to establish an academic
association for professors of English language and literature, and
translation in Arab universities. So, this issue was of one of the
major concerns of
the Amman 1997 conference. Towards
this end a special session was held on Tuesday,
26 August 1997 in which
the following resolutions were taken.
-
Launching the Association of
Professors of English and Translation at Arab
Universities (APETAU)
-
Deciding on the constitution
of the association
-
Selecting Amman as the
headquarters for the association
-
Electing a board of
management for the association
Soon afterwards, the elected Board of
Management started publicizing the association and sending
membership applications to all Arab universities. The Board of
Management is happy to announce that the number of association
members so far is about 300 faculty members from most
Arab countries.
Objectives
As stipulated in the bylaws, the
objectives of the Association of Professors of English and
Translation at Arab Universities (APETAU) are as follows:
-
Providing an appropriate framework
for co-coordinating the efforts of language, literature and
translation experts at Arab universities and those affiliated
with them; forging links between experts and others in different
fields of knowledge, particularly in the field of humanities;
and providing them with opportunities to exchange their
experiences and build up a fruitful, two-sided interaction.
-
Encouraging high quality academic
research and making provisions for its dissemination and
publication.
-
Encouraging translation from
Arabic-into-English and vice versa; and coordinating amongst
Arab organizations and institutions that are concerned with
translation and its teaching.
-
Activating the roles of academic
departments, institutes and centres involved in the teaching of
English Language and Literature, Translation, and Linguistics at
Arab universities in an attempt to serve the national, regional
and international interests of all Arab countries.
-
Disseminating Arab and Islamic
thought and culture to the world at large in a systematic and
objective manner; and fostering a constructive, interactive
dialogue with similar national, regional and international
associations and establishments.
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