Qatar is going in the right direction. The international universities at Education City are leaders in their respective fields and award quality degrees. It represents an enormous investment by the government.
The problems as I see it are twofold. The first is the need to ensure high standards in primary and secondary schools, so that students are able to meet the entrance requirements of the international universities operating here.
The second problem is the need to find a way to keep Qatar's best and brightest young minds in Qatar. Setting up excellent universities in Qatar is a start, as it reduces the number of students who would otherwise study abroad and may choose to settle in those countries. However, more needs to be done to retain graduates after they receive their degrees. Citizenship rules and Qatarization of the work force means that a Egyptian student who receives a first rate MD from Cornell at Qatar is likely to find job prospects in another country more appealing and move. Why stay here and be passed over for promotion when you can move to Australia, become a dual citizen and be treated as an equal? As it stands, the majority of students in Education City are not Qatari, so the government is spending an awful lot of money educating young people for the benefit of other countries.
Qatar is going in the right direction. The international universities at Education City are leaders in their respective fields and award quality degrees. It represents an enormous investment by the government.
The problems as I see it are twofold. The first is the need to ensure high standards in primary and secondary schools, so that students are able to meet the entrance requirements of the international universities operating here.
The second problem is the need to find a way to keep Qatar's best and brightest young minds in Qatar. Setting up excellent universities in Qatar is a start, as it reduces the number of students who would otherwise study abroad and may choose to settle in those countries. However, more needs to be done to retain graduates after they receive their degrees. Citizenship rules and Qatarization of the work force means that a Egyptian student who receives a first rate MD from Cornell at Qatar is likely to find job prospects in another country more appealing and move. Why stay here and be passed over for promotion when you can move to Australia, become a dual citizen and be treated as an equal? As it stands, the majority of students in Education City are not Qatari, so the government is spending an awful lot of money educating young people for the benefit of other countries.