Affordable undergraduate/ bachelors degree in Qatar?
By elmariachi •
Hello,
I just moved with my husband to Doha. I want to start a bachelor/ undergraduate program in any Arts subject like English/Social or Political Sciences etc. Not worried much about the quality of the degree or institute, however, it needs to be affordable. I can invest fulltime, but part time also works fine as long as I am receiving a legit bachelor degree in 3-4 years time. Please note: I am not from India, so Indian uni options doesn't help.
I am looking into scholarship for the English Lang and Lit in Qatar Uni but without scholarship it seems unaffordable. Any other options? Any foreign uni with distant learning option?
Kindly advise.
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: Our business pages on universities can be useful in this regard.
So, Here are a few comments to the misconceptions posted. I really do appericiate your help. But stuff to be clarified:
1- Qatar University Ranks 270 internationally and 6th in the Arab region ! also top 36 internationally for unversities under 50 years old.
2- Yes, Qatar University rates are 800 - 1000 per credit hour with a minimum of 12 and maximum 18 credit hours per semester which makes it really costly for some.
BUT
3- It has an amazing financial aid system, which is waaay better than QF (Education city). The financial aid in QU doesnt demad a payback after you graduate, and as per your income and your family it decides a portion of the payment you have to make, details here:
http://www.qu.edu.qa/students/services/financial-aid
4- QU has many types of scholarships, for instance, if your GPA is above 3.5, you qualify for a merit scholarship directly and stay in it until your GPA falls under 3.5 . Till then QU pays 100% of your education fees ! (Books not included)
How do you like qatar?
Just posting in case it might help someone:
University of London International Programme offers high quality bachelor degrees from reputed colleges at reasonable cost. QR 30K-45K for the full degree which is almost 10K-12K per year. Most bachelor degrees are offered based on 12 exams which can be taken in 3-8 years. Assessment is primarily based on the exams rather than ongoing coursework which is held at British Council. However, if you are planning your career in Qatar, then this might create problem for you as online degrees are not being attested by Qatar Ministries/Embassy. Other than that, these are high quality bachelor degrees which will be accepted worldwide for further studies like masters/phd and also valued by employers.
Most institutes which offers the degrees through University of London are ranked within top 50 or top 100s. For example, BSc in Finance/law/economics are offered through LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science) which is ranked 35 in the world ranking. Qatar University for example ranks around 350-400 mark. Hence, there is no doubt about the quality of the degree, however, the acceptability of online degree in Qatar/ME is an issue if you are planning a Career here.
I personally have applied to get admitted to a BA programme there. Please feel free to contribute more on this subject.
I am an Educational Consultant working for a reputed Training Center. I can give all the course information required. Please call or whatsapp me on 74479132. Thank you.
Just adding some findings, which could be helpful to other people. The options are:
1. Qatar University: For most majors tution fees are QR 800-1000 per credit. Most majors has at least 120 hours credit requirements which comes down to around 100-120K QR for the whole program. No idea, how tough is to get an admission though. Another issue, for many majors, medium of learning is Arabic.
2. Other foreign universities: CMU, GU and others offer different majors which cost even higher than QU in most cases.
3. I could only find one community college - College of North
Atlantic Qatar which offers technical diploma courses that too only in business and science subject. Per year cost is also 20K at least. It's the cheapest option I could find.
Thanks a lot Safin98 for the response, very helpful.
What about distant options? Like appearing for final exams at an approved exam center etc. but the degree to mostly online based and affordable. Qatar University per credit fee is 800-1000 riyal which comes to almost 100,000 for the whole degree. Even then, except English, all other subject medium is Arabic. So basically only English Medium Arabic subject for Female is English--don't see much hope for any scholarship. All other universities even more expensive than QU. Just want a legit bachelors in arts, really not worried about the employ-ability or quality of institute or degree for now.
Can anyone advise please?
Education City has branches of the best universities of the USA. Arts major is there in some of the universities like Carnegie Mellon and George Town. However, the tuition is pretty high given the enormous reputation of the universities. This year, however, Qatar Foundation has declared new tuition structure which includes tuition for the residents that are significantly lower than it used to be before.
Then, you have the option of seeking financial aid from qatar foundation that you have to repay after graduation without any interest. There are two ways to repay the lone according to their site:
1. 15% of your salary if you get a job in one of unapproved companies
2. You have to work in one of their approved companies without any deduction from your salary.
The scholarship program applies to students who have completed at least one year in Education City as a full time student. This scholarship covers the entire tuition.