Critical Consciousness and Empowerment Issues in Undergraduate Classrooms: A Study at Taif University in Saudi Arabia

2. Taif University In Saudi Arabia

Taif University is located in Taif, Saudi Arabia and is a public university established in 2004 (Taif University, 2018). The university’s mission is “to develop, support and convey knowledge through effective educational and research administration according to the international standards to ensure reinforcing sustainable development efforts” (Taif University, 2018, para. 1). Its vision is to be “a globally distinguished and integrated educational and research environment” (Taif University, 2018). Some of the university’s goals are to develop and to upgrade academic programs as well as syllabi to meet the needs of Saudi society in light of new educational theories, thoughts, and technology; to encourage and to support faculty’s sustainable research; to prepare teachers with a depth of knowledge in different specialization areas and to improve their skills; and to prepare teachers to utilize modern teaching methods that improve the educational process.

Taif University is new and seeks to be an international university. Additionally, Taif University cares about sustainable development. To achieve these goals, the university needs to help students develop their critical-thinking skills which will support lifelong learning. If students become lifelong learners, they may pursue continuing education for academic or personal reasons. Therefore, critiquing is an important skill that should be taught at in universities. Anari and Zamanian (2014) stated that the critical individual has become a promising area of discussion in educational research. Prior to describing the study, it is first important to understand the concept of critical consciousness, on which the study is founded.