Preamble
It is my pleasure to congratulate you for securing a place in the Department and welcome you to Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina.
It is known to all that no nation can progress without knowledge; and for that, I hope this opportunity will be properly utilised by you to acquire the needed knowledge. This should serve as a precious step towards your real future life by Allah’s will.
With patience, steadfastness and perseverance one can achieve his/her goals. I therefore urge you to be punctual at lectures. The department and its staff, both Academic and non-Academic, are always at your services and are ready to entertain your questions in relation to your academic pursuit.
This University Students Handbook is designed to provide the required information about the Department and the University at large.
May Allah help you in achieving your desired goals.
Dr. Isma’ila Abubakar Yusuf
Head, Department of Arabic
Brief History of the Department
The Department was among the first departments that were created from the inception of Umaru Musa Yar'adua University Katsina (then Katsina State University) in the year 2006 under the Faculty of Humanities. The programme started in the 2006/2007 academic session with 33 students at 100 level and 9 students at 200 level. In the subsequent 2007/2008 admission, 11 students were registered at 100 level and 19 at 200 level. A reasonable number of academic staff were employed to run the academic activities of the Department, with Malam Abdurrahman Lawal Adoro (B.A, M.A) as the first Head of Department. The staffing as at then comprised: two Senior Lecturers, two Lecturer I, two Assistant Lecturers and five Graduate Assistants.
Since its inception, however, many Professors, Readers and Senior Lecturers are servicing the Department on sabbatical, contract and visiting appointments. From 2009 to 2016, the Department had the following staff as Heads of Department: Dr. Muhammad Awwal Umar, Prof. Muhammad Ibrahim, Prof. Sabri Ibrahim Ali Salama and Dr. Muhammad El-Muhammad Rizq. The current H.O.D. is Dr. Isma’ila Yusuf Abubakar.
The Department started graduating students of B.A Arabic from the 2008/2009 session, and since then a reasonable number of students have graduated from the Department. The Department started a Masters (M.A Arabic) programme in the 2011/2012 academic session and subsequently a Ph.D programme in the 2012/13 session.
Philosophy and Objectives
Philosophy
The Department of Arabic is one of the Departments in Umaru Musa Yar'adua University. The Department was created to train students in Arabic language and literature in three categories:
- Students who wish to specialize in Arabic language and literature seeking for B.A (single honours).
- Students studying another area of learning related to Arabic language e.g Islamic Studies, History and Hausa etc. seeking for B.A (combined honours).
- Students studying Education with Arabic as a teaching subject, seeking for B.A Ed. Arabic.
Objectives
The main objectives of the degree programme are:
- To enable students acquire spoken and written competence in the Arabic language.
- To enable students, through their competence in Arabic, appreciate more their African history and civilization before the colonial era, much of which is recorded in Arabic.
- To acquaint students with the socio-cultural, religious, economic, commercial, political and diplomatic aspects of the life of the speakers of the language with a view to promoting international understanding.
- To equip students with adequate training for jobs in the fields of teaching, translation and interpretation, administration, journalism and diplomatic services.