Universities
Universities present in the country reflect the rapid strides Qatar has taken over the past decade, enabling sustainable economic and social development for the future.
There was a time when the prospects of higher education in Qatar were very limited. College of education was established in 1973 with a total of 150 students, which led to the founding of Qatar University (QU) in 1977 with the faculty of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, Sharia Law & Islamic Studies, and Science. In the humble beginnings lay a foundation which would produce pioneers of development indoctrinated with the immense importance to the role an educated and skillful population base can play in the development and growth of the young nation of Qatar.
The evolution of QU, in essence, captures the entire history of the State of Qatar. It has seen the days as a basic college transformed into a world-class institution with highly ambitious future plans to play its role in taking Qatar into the future. With over 8,000 current student body and alumni of over 30,000, QU is playing its role in achieving the educational goals of Qatar’s National Vision 2030. QU remains the only public university across the country. Community College in Qatar (CCQ), opened in 2010, is a recent entrant in the higher-education segment with a vision of boosting the penetration of higher education in the local population. With a wide array of programs and short courses to train students for the government,
corporate, and business sectors, CCQ is rapidly expanding its student base, which has grown five times in less than three years.
As an investment in the human capital of the country, Education City was envisioned towards the end of the last millennium, to enrich the higher-education landscape in the country with prestigious international universities and colleges opening up their international campuses. Encompassing an area over 14 square kilometers, the Education City houses international campuses of some of the best-known universities in the world, including Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, HEC Paris, Northwestern, Stenden, Texas A&M, Virginia Commonwealth, Weill Cornell Medical College, University College London, University of Calgary.
The tuition fee for many of these universities is on the higher side, although the citizens of Qatar get substantial financial backing from the government to pursue education in these institutions. An alternative higher education option is the College of North Atlantic, a Canadian college offering post-secondary school, graduate level diplomas at a very competitive fee, thus making it a popular choice among the large expat community in Qatar.
