American University of Beirut
Olayan School of Business
Year 1
Experiences and Observations
Nelson King
Assistant Professor
Information & Decision Systems
Olayan School of Business
September 2006
General Advice
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Smell the flowers – see Lebanon
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Take AUB for what it is (and can be) –
don’t dwell on what it lacks
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Research can be done – take advantage
of AUB/regional strengths
Who are AUB Students?
New Faculty Knowledge Base Project
INFO 230 Knowledge Management Class Project –
Spring 2006 by Alfred and Maude
Interviews/surveys of faculty and students
 Focus on Lebanese students (>85% of
students)

Student Background

American vs French education (F/S
view)
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French emphasis (critical thinking, writing
and memorization skills) but adjustment to
American communication and team
orientation
Academic Performance findings (F)
Able to perform well
 But lack of interest in studies and effort

Student Background (continued)

Communication skills (S)
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Ethics (S)
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Good oral skills
Little participation
Many “free-riders” in group work
Cheating/plagarism prevalent esp. in competitive
faculties
Average respect for rules
Politics (S)

Campus politics reflects national politics –
students take offense to faculty bias
Recommendations to Faculty (from students)
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Try to encourage class discussions and involvement
Provide interesting classes by making use of
relevant and real-life cases
Highlight the benefits of the course in one’s own
career
Include group projects while paying careful attention
to the elimination of “free-riders”.
Severely stress on AUB’s code of conduct and
regulations and make it very clear that plagiarism
and cheating will NOT be tolerated.
Make use of AUB’s anti-plagiarism site
“turnitin.com”
Take strict measures when a code of conduct breach
takes place such as a Dean’s warning or probation
Do not raise political or religious sensitive issues