Soliya Connect Program for Cross-Cultural Education
Facilitating Dialogue
Georgetown is one of 32 American universities taking part in the Soliya Connect Program, a United Nations-sponsored project that directly links students from universities throughout the Middle East, North Africa, United States, and Europe via Soliya’s online videoconferencing tools.
Students participating in the program engage in weekly dialogue sessions about global issues; explore a multimedia online library containing a wide range of resources including raw news and interview footage, academic and policy articles, websites, and lectures by experts; and express their understanding of the issues discussed by creating two media projects over the period of the semester.
Soliya at Georgetown (CNN video):
A CNN clip from “Inside the Arab World” looks at how Soliya has connected students from Georgetown University and the American University of Beirut, allowing them to discuss a variety of topics and share diverse perspectives.
Case Study
Case Study: Cynthia Schneider
Cynthia Schneider, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands and School of Foreign Service Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy, uses teleconferencing tools and the Soliya program to connect her students at Georgetown with students in the Middle East through weekly online meetings. Students collaborate on projects such as reporting articles and news clips, and they chat online to discuss their biases, opinions, and thought processes.
Within this forum, we were able to meet and discuss these things without our politically charged backgrounds. We were able to get past those one-liners. We were able to come down from our separate towers and talk.
–Rod Solaimani, student