(Mis)management of Kuwait University

Al Qabas, Kuwait, April 13

A decision was recently made to appoint a new director of Kuwait University, after a long wait during which the level of the university plummeted to unprecedented levels, and it became the subject of mockery and ridicule. In an attempt to “extricate” the university from its dismal position, the new administration announced the allocation of three whole working days to congratulate the new director on his position. During this entire time, professors and teaching assistants were given paid time off to participate in celebratory events marking the university’s new leadership. One can only hope that all government agencies will follow this model and allocate two or three days – or maybe even an entire week – to congratulating their leaders at the expense of getting work done. No one truly expected the university’s new leader to set foot in office and tend to his institution’s most burning problems, such as the dismal ranking it is suffering from. Rather than wasting the precious time of the university’s faculty and staff, the new director would have been better off rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. I hope that someone will intervene to stop these ridiculous loyalty ceremonies, which have nothing to do with university norms or customs. If I were in the position of the university’s director, on my first day on the job I would have examined all the successful universities in the region and sought to understand the reason for their performance. –Ahmed Al-Sarraf (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)