Strategies to Overcome Diversity Challenges between Urban/Rural Students in Universities

• Hisham A. Maddah

  King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

  Author

The urban-rural imbalance between university students raises diversity challenges in many educational institutions. University leaders favor urban students’ admission because of the misconception that rural students have lower academic performance than their urban counterparts. Here, strategies to overcome diversity challenges between urban and rural students in universities have been proposed. A diversification workshop project was suggested to be delivered for the current and/or incoming students at KAU in Rabigh to improve students attitudes towards their peers (student-to-student) and faculty-to-student interactions. Project learning outcomes for an inclusive urban/rural campus were discussed to overcome differences between students and achieve campus inclusion. Reform actions highlight that students should understand others, be respectful, accept differences and avoid stereotyping and undermining others’ abilities. Two successful urban/rural models were introduced to address diversity-related problems. Leadership roles of all university parties have been explained with the suggested procedures and their frequencies according to university standards, regulation, potential budget, and funding for the proposed project to attain KAU campus homogeneity. Gender bias, racial bias, and unconscious bias are some of the difficulties that need to be recognized by university leaders. Several media/article resources were introduced to increase students/faculty awareness about rural/urban diversity.

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