When culture and learning styles matter: A Canadian university with Middle-Eastern students

Abstract

Transnational branch campuses of universities are a growing phenomenon, particularly in the Middle-East. The cultures of home institutions and host countries are often foreign to each other. The result is a cultural and learning style gap between faculty and students impacting students’ learning and teachers’ effectiveness. A pilot study of the University of Calgary, at its Canadian branch campus located in Qatar, looks at the differences in learning styles between faculty who are predominantly from Canada and students predominantly from Qatar.