Doha: Qatar University (QU) will celebrate the graduation of the 45th batch of its students today. Since its establishment in 1973, through the College of Education, it embarked on the path of progress and development, which placed it among the ranks of international universities, as confirmed by international classifications.
As a national university and the first university in Qatar, it has taken upon itself the responsibility of training human cadres who have efficiently and competently contributed to the various transformations, development and modernisation that the country has witnessed until today. QU has prepared generations of competencies exceeding 57,000 and whose efforts contributed to building their country, according to the University President’s speech during the graduation ceremony of the last batch. The number of this new batch exceeded 60,000 graduates.
During the last five years, QU has continued its important achievements, at various academic and research sectors and in infrastructure, thanks to the support of the wise leadership, the clear vision of its Board of Trustees, as well as the skills of the national cadres who lead this great educational edifice.
On the academic and scientific level, the number of colleges has reached 11, representing Arts and Sciences, Business and Economics, Law, Sharia and Islamic Studies, Engineering, Education, Medicine (which celebrated the graduation of the first batch last year), Pharmacy, Health Sciences, and Dental Medicine, as well as the College of Nursing which will receive the first batch during the next academic year. All of these colleges currently have more than 50 undergraduate programmes, with 20,000 students.
During the past five years, Qatar University’s graduate programmes reached more than 70 and cover various disciplines — this is an increase from 50, and the number of students has increased to 2,000.
QU’s Vice-President for Academic Affairs Dr. Omar Al Ansari told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that over the past five years they have worked on developing academic courses and programmes through many topics. They include aligning academic programmes with Qatar University’s qualifications framework and frameworks for excellence in education to reach education centred on the student, based on practical application, research, a system of competencies enhanced by digitisation, support for leadership, and innovation.
He pointed out that one of the most important topics is also the academic planning process 2020-2024, which aims to provide a clear and coherent vision for the growth of the university’s academic portfolio over the next five years.
Academic accreditation is one of the most important axes that the academic sector works on to ensure a certain level of academic quality of programmes and courses through accreditation at the regional and international levels. There are currently 26 academic programmes accredited by reputable academic bodies.
Dr. Al Ansari also referred to other achievements of the academic sector, including the restructuring of the Academic Excellence Program, which resulted in an increase in the percentage of Qataris in the programme from 18.5 percent to 38 percent, and an increase in the number of Qatari scholarship students to more than 100 students who are completing their postgraduate studies (Masters and PhD) at universities in the US, UK, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and other countries. And the strengthening of cooperation and partnerships through 100 agreements and memoranda of understanding with local institutions, universities and international institutions.
