Coming full circle: Taking positive psychology to GCC universities

Abstract

The sum of skills that lead to national prosperity has formed the bulk of a new system of inquiry called positive education, the best practises found in teaching along with the principles of positive psychology that focus on the development of student wellbeing versus the remediation of their problems. The positive philosophy differs from mainstream orientations to education by recognizing that even in the absence of problems, attending to student wellbeing and character are essential for good functioning and excellence. Accordingly, in this chapter, we challenge educational institutions to reimagine, redesign and reorganize themselves into "Positive Universities" by harnessing important organizational cultural changes not only for the benefit of students, but for faculty, management, staff, as well as parents and the greater community. We propose to implement character strengths programming to do so. We offer a view of the GCC university landscape and discuss the challenges and opportunities in transforming such learning environments to more positive ones, all the while offering programming ideas and guidance in restructuring these environments accordingly.