Liberal Arts Services

CASA Programs

The Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) offers four programs:

The Summer and Full-Year programs are designed for graduate and undergraduate students.
The CASA II program aims to provide further opportunities for CASA fellows who have completed the CASA Full-Year program within the past five years, to continue to enhance their language skills and advance their Arabic-based research in Egypt.

The CASA III program is designed to meet the linguistic and research needs of professors with specialization in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies.

All CASA programs provide intensive language, culture, and specialized area studies training, with 12 to 20 hours of classroom instruction per week plus homework. A series of lectures, tours, and visits to places of historical interest, both in and outside Cairo and Damascus form an integral part of the CASA programs. Efforts are made to provide opportunities for CASA participants to interact with their Egyptian and Syrian counterparts and experience life in Egypt and Syria to the fullest extent.

CASA Program Policies

Testing and Evaluation Policy
Each fellow's performance is evaluated through written tests and oral presentation and interviews in each of the courses he or she takes. The evaluation component of each course is explained in detail in the course outline. In addition to the course-based evaluation, the CASA program utilizes two general testing tools aimed at helping the fellows gauge their progress in the various skills:

At the end of the summer, Summer-only fellows are given an extended oral interview (20 to 25 minutes) similar to the one given by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) at the U.S. Department of State. The FSI-Style Interview rates each fellow's level of Arabic speaking proficiency on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the level of an educated Arabic native speaker. Full-year fellows take this oral test in May of the following year at the end of their program.
At the end of the full-year program, fellows also retake the written exam they took when applying to CASA. This helps provide each fellow with a tangible measure of her/his progress in the areas of listening, reading, and writing.

These tests and oral interviews constitute an integral part of the program; full participation from all fellows is required.

Arabic-Only Speaking Policy
It is CASA policy to speak Arabic at all times both inside and outside of class. Speaking Arabic at all times will immensely facilitate your acquisition of vocabulary and structures, and will allow you to internalize them much faster. Restricting your use of Arabic to the classroom will severely limit your potential to become a fluent speaker of Arabic, and will restrain your progress in the language. CASA expects all its fellows to abide by the Arabic Speaking Policy and to help create opportunities for speaking Arabic both inside and outside the classroom.
During orientation in Cairo and Damascus, CASA asks each of its fellows to sign a statement affirming their commitment to uphold CASA’s Arabic-Only Speaking Policy and create an Arabic speaking environment within members of the CASA group. The following is the text of the statement required to be signed by each CASA fellow:

I, _________________________, agree to use Arabic as my medium of communication during my time as a fellow in the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) Program at the University of Damascus, Syria/ the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

By signing this statement of commitment I agree to uphold the following as part of the CASA Honor Code:

I commit to speaking Arabic exclusively while on the campus of The University of Damascus/ the American University of Cairo. I will also strive to use Arabic as much as possible when I am not on campus.
I understand that using a language other than Arabic with other CASA fellows while on campus is a violation of CASA’s Arabic Speaking Policy and should be avoided at all times.
I will make an effort to remind any fellow who breaks this policy at any time of their commitment to it in a friendly and non-confrontational manner.
I understand that observance of the Arabic-Only Speaking Policy can be suspended with permission from the CASA administrators or in case of emergency.
I understand that if I break this policy I will receive a written warning. If I receive more than two such warnings, CASA has the right to terminate my fellowship.

Signature: _________________________________ Date: ______________________

Absence Policy

Except in the case of illness, any absence without the prior approval of the CASA Executive Director is considered an unexcused absence. In case of illness, CASA fellows are required to telephone the CASA office before 10:00 a.m. of the day of the illness. In addition, a medical certificate from the AUC clinic must be presented to the instructor. In the event that unexcused absences exceed 10% of the contact hours in a given course, the fellow's final grade in the course will be lowered by one letter. If unexcused absence for any fellow exceeds 20%, the CASA fellowship will be terminated.
CASA fellows may not leave Egypt without permission of the CASA Executive Director except during official school holidays. In case of an emergency, the fellow must notify the Executive Director immediately. Failure to adhere to this policy will result in loss of fellowship and dismissal from the program.