"Gateway cities of transnational higher education? Doha, Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah as regional amplifiers in the networks of global capitalism."
This presentation introduces the key findings of a third paper of a cumulative dissertation project. Contributing to debates on the global-urban nexus in the West Asia and North Africa region, and to debates on the complexities and diversity of connections in the world city network, the paper investigates the (changing) positionalities of three cities in the Arab Gulf region: Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Doha. Although embedded in different political contexts and produced by different modes of accumulation, as a result of specific governmental strategies, all three cities have attracted relatively large numbers of campuses by foreign universities. The paper conceptualises these cities as a particular form of gateway cities that mediate between global networks of higher education, knowledge production and the creation of transnationally mobile labour, on the one hand, and local and regional student markets and political economies, on the other. Against the backdrop of global hegemonies and in synergy with existing networks, through their role as gateways for transnational higher education these cities amplify the networks of global capitalism in their regional hinterlands.
in person: room F4.66 | Brussels Humanities, Sciences, & Engineering Campus, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels
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Since May 2018 Tim Rottleb has been working as a research associate for the Research Area “Economy and Civil Society” in the Junior Research Group “Constructing Transnational Spaces of Higher Education: International Branch Campus Development at the Interface of Network and Territorial Embeddedness”.
He completed his B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on Political Science which was followed by a M.A. in Politics and Economics of the Middle East, both at Philipps University in Marburg. During his studies he was mainly interested in researching various forms of societal conflicts in the MENA region and their urban dimension. With his M.A. thesis he explored the interrelation of contested public space in Cairo and processes of urban development as a material-spatial condensation of class antagonisms in Egypt. During his Master studies he worked as a research assistant at the research project “Re-configurations” at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies in Marburg. In addition, he has gained experience in the field of international development by working for UN-Habitat in Cairo and the UN World Food Programme in Berlin.