Al Azhar English Language Resource Center (ELRC), was founded in 2007 at the Nasr City, Cairo campus of Al Azhar University as a result of breakthrough collaboration between Al Azhar University and the United States Embassy Cairo. The US Embassy provides the ELRC with 3-4 American English Language Fellows with Master's degrees in TESOL through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is overseen by the Regional English Language Office (RELO). The ELRC also employs 12 Egyptian teaching and staff members. The ELRC provides intensive English language instruction to raise the English proficiency of Azhar junior faculty members (future professors), teacher training and professional development to staff to enhance the quality of English language instruction at Al Azhar and promotes the overarching goal of advancing mutual understanding between the Muslim world and the USA. Because of Al Azhar's prestige and rich history as a center of Sunni Islamic learning, the existence of a partially American-financed center with American teachers on campus has taken on symbolic significance as a place of educational diplomacy, cross-cultural dialog and a bridge between Islam and the West. Prominent international visitors to the ELRC include Muqtedar Khan, Farah Pandith, Rashad Hussain, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Idris Tawfiq, Dawn McCall, Dalia Ziada, Amr Abdallah Dr. Abdul Mawgoud Dardery and Imam Mohammed Bashar Arafat.
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The ELRC enrolls 75-90 junior faculty member students at a time, 2/3 of the enrolled students are required to come from the Islamic Studies or Arabic Studies faculties and may study for 2 years. The remaining 1/3 of students may come from other faculties including commerce, agriculture, sciences, etc. and study for one year. Classes meet Monday-Thursday for 3 hours in the morning or afternoon and are divided into 5 levels (beginner, high-beginner, low intermediate, intermediate and advanced study) which are aligned to the Common European Framework CEFR levels. As of summer 2010, ongoing ELRC internal reforms are aimed at receiving EAQUALS accreditation for the ELRC in 2011.
In the spring of 2010 the ELRC launched a pilot Soliya program. Soliya is non-profit organization that organizes and facilitates online video discussions about pressing issues of tension between university students from the West and students from the Arab and Muslim world. 10-20 Al Azhar ELRC students take part in Soliya each semester.
The ELRC has an ongoing blog and dialog project with classes at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.
The ELRC has created the Al Azhar-West Dialog Project-online Q&A forum
In the same year, 2007, that the Al Azhar administration approached the US Embassy about creating the ELRC it approached the British Council. The British Council created the Al-Azhar English Training Centre (AAETC) at the historic downtown Al-Darassa campus adjacent to Al Azhar mosque. The ETC provides 3 years of intensive language instruction to over 400 of the top undergraduate males in the Islamic Studies program. London's Financial Times reported on the 2010 graduation.
Due largely to political sensitivities surrounding the project, many Al Azhar faculty initially opposed the creation of the center based on suspicions of indoctrination or a hidden American agenda. The Egyptian English-language periodical Al Ahram Weekly featured the ELRC around the time of its opening.
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