Explore-Qatar » Articles » Qatar Today Editorials - Quest for Knowledge – Nurturing Change, Growth & Development - Part 1
Qatar Today Editorials - Quest for Knowledge – Nurturing Change, Growth & Development - Part 1
The face of education has changed greatly in the last ten years
Students are provided with state of the art technology with which to pursue their studies
Over the last decade, millions of riyals have been pumped into the local education system. It has long since ceased to be an effort targeted at Qatar alone. By the virtue of its quality and the magnitude of investments, the education system has gradually become a regional focal point.
As Qatar Foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary, the results of HH Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Misnad’s vision and efforts are becoming increasingly visible outside the country too.
Qatar Today looks at the growing collaboration between Institution and Industry and what that means to Qatar’s aspirations of becoming a research and development hub.
Speaking at a conference last year, Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) Secretary General HE Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah had said that GCC states still faced some major challenges in improving their educational system.
Listing the challenges, the six member states have faced since the council was established 24 years ago, he said that population growth and lack of technical expertise were the major challenges. “Also the traditional educational institutions were not able to produce enough qualified citizens to cater to the market’s needs. The member states realised that dealing with such challenges required gradual economic integration. In this direction, the six nations have achieved unification in standards and laws for the environment and economy...”
Qatar has made pioneering efforts in this regard. It now attracts more students from neighbouring countries, not to mention a sprinkling from the rest of Asia.
And that initial concept now graduates to a different level. Where opportunities to harness local resources are explored. Where benefits are channelised and returns on investment sought. It has gone beyond providing educational opportunity. It is now all about creating a knowledge economy; one that will involve not only academia, but also local industries.
Energy Minister Abdulla bin Hamad Al Attiyah, delivering a lecture to the Texas A&M University in Qatar (TAMU-Q), underscored the important role that engineers trained by TAMU-Q will play in helping Qatar realise the future its leaders envision for the country.
TAMU-Q will take care of only a part (albeit an extremely important one) of the country’s human resources and research needs.
Yet, the minister’s comments highlight the Government’s commitment to building a knowledge economy. “We believe that the huge industrial oil and gas projects are creating a great demand for highly specialised engineers. Competition for young professionals is soaring in Qatar. Only highly educated graduates who have a strong work ethic will make it to the top.”
The minister, in his address, also managed to dispel doubts and listed opportunities for youngsters. “A few years ago, there were questions about what to do with women engineers,” he said in response to question on this issue, “Some thought women should be segregated, but can we do that? That is not logical. We have great women engineers, they comprise the great hard working team of people we have. We all work as one team.”
Al Attiyah added that Qatar had embarked on a strategic Qatarisation plan in order to achieve a 50 percent Qatari workforce in the energy sector. “For Qatarisation to succeed, the country would have to develop and make use of the talents of all its citizens, male and female.”
He also put to rest fears of non-Qatari students, stressing that Qatarisation did not mean that non-Qataris would be denied opportunities to contribute to Qatar’s major projects. “More than anything else, we work in a performance-based system, so we want quality people.”
Regional Reach
On the creation of a knowledge economy, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, QF, Robert Baxter says, “The big picture on recruitment is that we see Education City as a resource for the region as a whole – not just Qatar. Currently around 55-60 per cent of our students are Qatari nationals and the remainder are from a wide range of backgrounds. We see the neighbouring GCC countries as a prime recruitment market.”
He points out that what Education City offers is unique worldwide. “We need to be sure that people in the region know about it, so that university applicants can make informed choices. In previous years, we have attended student recruitment exhibitions, but we found that our message was not coming through clearly enough when we were surrounded by many other institutions, which – quite frankly – are simply not in our league. “We therefore struck out on our own by organising an Education City `road show’ that started in Doha and visited three regional capitals. We took a hall in a large hotel and gave talks both on Education City as a whole - its vision, history and progress - and on how to go about the mechanics of applying to the universities there. There was ample opportunity to meet representatives of each of the campuses and to discuss individual concerns. We took advertising ahead of the event in the local press – in English and Arabic – and had booths in shopping malls where passers-by could pick up flyers and gain some preliminary information.”
The new recruitment campaign had two key messages. “The first is encapsulated by the slogan of the advertising campaign that accompanied the road shows – `Five world-class universities under one roof’. If you are accepted by one of our universities, you will be following one of the world’s top degree programmes in that particular field. The degree certificate from Education City is identical to that earned in the home institution, and the standards of the programme must also be identical. “Furthermore, you will be studying alongside talented young people who are in a different institution of similar repute, and have also proven themselves to be worthy of studying there. Your total educational experience will be enriched by getting to know, and interacting with, the brightest of your generation, who will approach life and its problems from the standpoints of their own, chosen specialisations. “The second message is that it may not be as difficult to gain a place as you think. Clearly, these are amongst the most competitive undergraduate programmes in the world – and acceptance will be no easier in Doha than in Richmond, New York City, College Station, Pittsburgh or Washington D C. Yet, there is a considerable talent pool in this region, and all the universities have experienced admissions officers who can recognise ability when they see it. They will help you navigate a carefully designed process which enables you to demonstrate whether you meet the criteria – that you are `the right stuff’.”
In November, Qatar Foundation organised their first Discover Education City exhibition. “We were thrilled that around 700 people turned out – they were literally standing in the aisles. Understandably, the turnout in Manama, Muscat and Abu Dhabi was smaller, but those who came were extremely motivated and engaged. It will be some time before we can gauge the success of the road shows in terms of successful applications, but we are already thinking about our 2006-07 recruitment campaign, building upon this year’s success.”
Essentially, what Qatar Foundation is doing is that it is planning the skills needed for Qatar to take its place as one of the top knowledge economies of the 21st century. “Considerable thought is given to which programmes, and which institutions, to invite to join us. Clearly the universities will be producing highly employable graduates that will staff the upper ranks of corporations. “Through the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), on the other hand, corporations will also gain access to the new research being carried out in the universities, and this will give them a competitive edge. There will also be a business incubator – a supportive environment where budding entrepreneurs will be able to cut their teeth in setting up their own business.”
The Incubator
“We make introductions between industry and Qatar’s universities. Both already come to us expressing interest in and seeking collaborations with the other. We expect this to happen more frequently and in future as the universities establish their research programmes. Texas A&M for instance is very relevant to the oil and gas companies in Qatar,” says Ben Figgis, Marketing Executive, QSTP.
On the QSTP’s wherewithal to compete with other similar set-ups that hope to attract both talent and investment, he says Qatar has to its advantage not just hydrocarbons, but a whole complement of Universities, that will take care of expertise and resources.
On the proposed Energy City, which will also be attracting petroleum companies, he stresses that the two projects complement each other. QSTP focuses on research and commercialisation activities, and is a free zone. “Our understanding is they won’t be into R&D, but more into office operations,” he says.
To ensure that the free zone status is not violated or misused, a tenant is expected to quantify its operations, and it will be tracked annually.
On whether the big companies have signed up at QSTP as a goodwill gesture or to genuinely promote R&D in the region, Figgis points out that these companies will always have technical problems to solve. “They are constantly developing new technology. Instead of doing it in Houston, QSTP makes it attractive to do it here. They will always be investing in know-how, and now the opportunity exists to do that in Doha.”
QSTP is not profit-oriented; it will offer the physical location, provide assistance, advice on commercialising technology, writing business plans etc. The eight companies that have signed up are giants in their fields. But they are not the only companies targeted. “QSTP will be operational in early 2007, and closer to that date, we expect more small and medium sized companies to sign-up,” says Figgis.
The only requirement, for setting up shop at QSTP, is that the main activity relates to technology development. “We also want to encourage start-up companies. For this we are in the process of setting up a venture capital fund and a seed fund. The criteria for the start-ups will be that development has to happen in Qatar, not outside.” “QSTP has been receiving interest from all over – the GCC region, US, Europe. From O&G, environmental, IT and electronics firms.”
This article is reproduced with special permission from Qatar Today - Qatar's only news, business and lifestyle magazine
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