Qatar

Partners situated in Qatar

None.

Qatar in a nutshell

(sourced from Wikipedia)

Qatar (Arabic: قطر ‎) officially the State of Qatar (Arabic: دولة قطر transliterated as Dawlat Qatar), is an Arab emirate in Southwest Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the larger Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south; otherwise the Persian Gulf surrounds the state. An oil rich nation, Qatar has the highest GDP per capita in the world.

Sources say the name may derive from "Qatara", believed to refer to the Qatari town of Zubara, an important trading port and town in the region in ancient times.

In English-language broadcast media within Qatar — for example, television commercials for Qatar Airways and advertisements concerning economic development in Qatar — the name is pronounced "KA-tar", with a distinct differentiation between the syllables from the forming of the "t" sound.

In July 2007, the country had a growing population of approximately 900,000 people of whom approximately 350,000 were believed to be citizens. Of the citizen population, Sunni Muslims form a majority (almost all Qataris profess Islam), while the Shi'a Muslims count up to 10-13% of the population. The Wahhabi Muslims form the third group in size, probably no more than 10% of the population, to include the ruling dynasty and a large number of the elite families. The ancient Shia community of Qatar are historically related to the Shia majority in Bahrain and the al-Hasa coastal province of Saudi Arabia.

Besides ethnic Arabs, much of the population migrated from various nations to work in the country’s oil industry. Arabic serves as the official language. However, English as well as many other languages like Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, and Persian are widely spoken in Qatar.

Expatriates form the majority of Qatar’s residents. The petrochemical industry has attracted people from all around the world. Most of the expatriates come from South Asia and from non-oil-rich Arab states. Because a large percentage of the expatriates are male, Qatar has a heavily skewed sex ratio, with 1.8528 males per female.

The majority of the estimated 800,000 non-citizens are individuals from South and South East Asian and Arab countries working on temporary employment contracts in most cases without their accompanying family members. They are of the following faiths: Sunni Muslims, Shi'a Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Bahá'ís.

Qatar education policy

In recent years Qatar has placed great emphasis on education. Along with the country’s free healthcare, citizens enjoy free education from kindergarten through to high school.

In November 2002, the Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani created the Supreme Education Council.

Qatar education system

Education City is home to a fully accredited International Baccalaureate school, Qatar Academy.

See below for details on higher education.

Higher education in Qatar

See below for details.

Universities in Qatar

Qatar University was founded in 1973 - see http://www.qu.edu.qa/main/index.html

More recently, with the support of the Qatar Foundation, some major American universities have opened branch campuses in Education City, Qatar. These include Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Texas A&M University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cornell University’s Weill Medical College. In addition, Northwestern University will offer undergraduate programs in communication and journalism starting in autumn 2008.

In 2004, Qatar established the Qatar Science & Technology Park at Education City to link those universities with industry.

Two Canadian institutions, the College of the North Atlantic and the University of Calgary, also operate campuses in Doha.

Moreover,Stenden University Qatar (Former CHN University of Professional Education) has been around in Doha for 8 years. It offers four year bachelor degree programmes (BBA) in International Hospitality Management, International Business & Management Studies, and Tourism Management. It is a Dutch university and its programs are fully accredited by Ministry of Education, Qatar.

Polytechnics in Qatar

No information.

Higher education reform

The Supreme Education Council directs and controls education for all ages from the pre-school level through the university level, including the “Education for a New Era” reform initiative - see http://www.english.education.gov.qa/

See also http://www.wes.org/ewenr/07may/feature.htm for more details.

The Emir’s second wife, Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, has been instrumental in new education initiatives in Qatar. She chairs the Qatar Foundation, sits on the board of Qatar’s Supreme Education Council, and is a major driving force behind the importation of Western expertise into the education system, particularly at the college level.

Qatar HEIs in the information society

Information society strategy

Qatar has a modern Telecommunication system centered in Doha. Tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and UAE; submarine cable to Bahrain and UAE; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat. People can call to Qatar using their submarine cable, satellite or using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol); however, Qtel has interfered with VoIP systems in the past, and Skype's website has been blocked before. Following complaints from individuals, the website has been unblocked; and Paltalk has been permanently blocked.

Qtel’s ISP branch, Internet Qatar, uses SmartFilter to block websites they deem inappropriate to Qatari interests and morality.

Vodafone, in partnership with Qatar Foundation, has been announced to be opening in Qatar in mid 2008.

Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة‎, al-ğazīrä, [al.dʒaˈziː.ra], meaning “The Island”) is a television network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Al Jazeera initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel of the same name, but has since expanded into a network of several specialty TV channels. Print media is going through expansion, with over 3 English dailies and Arabic titles. The magazine segment is dominated by Qatar Today, which is the country's only news, business monthly magazine. It is published by Oryx Advertising Co, which is the largest magazine publisher of the country. The group also brings out several titles like Qatar Al Youm, Qatar's only Arabic monthly business magazine, Woman Today, the only working women's magazine and GLAM, the only fashion title.

Virtual initiatives in HE in Qatar

ictQATAR, The Supreme Council for Information and Communication Technology, is the policy making and regulatory body for information and communication technology in Qatar. ictQATAR’s mission is to promote the development of an advanced ICT society through infrastructure and human capital development, the delivery of e-services and the establishment of a regulatory environment that is conducive to sustainable growth and offers benefits all users.

ictQATAR and the Institute of Administration Development (IAD) launched the e-Learning Portal, a new online educational tool, in 2007. The e-Learning Portal gives Government employees, university students and the wider adult community access to 4000, cost-free, courses covering business and professional development, IT and computer software programs.

Courses are taught in Arabic, English or French using innovative multi-media materials with course accreditation from international institutes, such as the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Project Management Institute (PMI). Human resource managers and directors from Qatar’s public sector attended today’s portal unveiling, which has been spearheaded by ictQATAR to support economic development by connecting people to educational opportunities through information and communication technology.

For e-learning at the University of Qatar see http://math.arizona.edu/~atp-mena/conference/proceedings/Yousif_Mediated_Learning.doc

References

1. Post-Secondary Education in Qatar: Employer Demand, Student Choice, and Options for Policy, by Cathleen Stasz, Eric R. Eide, Francisco Martorell with Louay Constant, Charles A. Goldman, Joy S. Moini, Vazha Nadareishvili, Hanine Salem, at http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2007/RAND_MG644.pdf. Summary in Tawasol (the Qatar University Educational Reform Journal), at http://www.qu.edu.qa/newsletters/tawasol/documents/tawasol_spring_08_eng.pdf

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