Doha: Qatar Foundation has launched a new program that will provide the thousands of alumni of its education ecosystem with a pathway for making new connections, sharing experiences, and identifying new opportunities – including those which enable them to stay in and return to Qatar, to support the country’s development
Graduates of Qatar Foundation’s (QF) schools, partner universities and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) are being invited to join the QF Alumni Program, which includes a digital space that allows collaborations to be formed, knowledge and information to be exchanged, and bonds formed during their time at Education City to be strengthened.
Over 10,000 people have graduated from QF schools and universities – and been equipped to succeed in the next phase of their lives through the unique educational experience that QF offers – and the QF Alumni Program aims to be a focal point for creating a global network of QF alumni who retain their links to QF and to Qatar, while helping each other to advance their careers, interests, and ambitions. Many of these alumni – including those currently working abroad – will gather at Education City next week for the first QF Alumni Reunion, as well as a two-day Career Fair that will also be open to QF’s current students.
“Our talented, creative, innovative, and highly-driven alumni are the embodiment of what QF’s investment in quality education means, and how our ecosystem of learning and knowledge benefits society in Qatar and beyond,” said Mohammed Fakhroo, Executive Director of Outreach and Institutional Advancement, QF. “Each of them has a different dream to pursue and a different path to follow. But what unites them all is their shared connection to QF, and to each other.
“The QF Alumni Program is intended to enable this connection to endure, allowing those who have learned and grown at QF to form networks of knowledge and interaction that help them progress along the path their lives will take; to reconnect and make new connections; and to share their stories and experiences with the goal of supporting each other. This programme also aims to encourage our new alumni to remain in Qatar after they graduate from QF, and those who have graduated in previous years to return to the country, so that Qatar both retains and welcomes back the talent it has contributed to nurturing.
“For QF, our alumni are much more than former students. They represent our values, carry our message about the importance of quality education, and remain part of our community. Through this programme, we aim to create lasting ties between QF and our alumni – demonstrating that, wherever they are and in everything they achieve, QF will always be with them.”
QF alumna Dr. Noora Hadi Al-Shahwani graduated from QF partner university Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) in 2011 and, having subsequently worked in Canada, has now returned to Qatar to join the pediatric surgery team at QF member Sidra Medicine. “I feel proud to be a QF graduate, and to belong to such a community,” she said.
“QF has evolved so much as a community of students. You can see WCM-Q students making friends with students of other QF partner universities, and these friendships last a lifetime. The Alumni Reunion event will take people back to a very special time in their lives, and strengthen their friendships once more.”
And Mohammed Al Matwi, a Class of 2015 alumnus of QF partner university Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and founder and CEO of The Perfume Factory – a business he adapted in 2020 to help Qatar tackle the COVID-19 pandemic – said: “QF students have a long history together, and they share a great deal of passion and nostalgia for the place where this history was made.
“We need to stay connected, to see where all of us have reached in our lives. This reunion event will be like reviving the memory of being a student, but from an adult perspective.”
Through the QF Alumni App – which all graduates of QF, its partner universities, and HBKU can register for – alumni will be able to connect and reconnect with each other, form mutual interest groups, find and apply for jobs, and provide guidance to younger graduates through a short mentorship programme that promotes experience-sharing.
QF alumni will play a central role in shaping the programme through the launch of the QF Alumni steering committee, with their views about what it should offer and how it should be adapted to their needs driving its evolution. Meanwhile, the QF Alumni Office will advocate for policy changes in Qatar that help graduates of QF universities contribute to Qatar’s development, and form relationships with public and private sector organizations that help to secure jobs for QF alumni, 400 of whom were offered positions in Qatar in 2021.
The QF Alumni Reunion takes place at Al Shaqab on Sunday, May 15, bringing together graduates of QF universities and schools to reconnect with their peers through a series of networking and career-building activities. The event will highlight the journeys that some of QF’s alumni have taken and showcase the benefits of the QF Alumni Program, including its dedicated online platform and app.
Meanwhile, the Career Fair will take place on May 15 and 16, allowing QF alumni and current students to identify ways of advancing their career by exploring full-time, part-time, internship, and training opportunities with leading organizations. Full details, including how to register, can be found at www.alumni.qf.org.qa where more information about the QF Alumni Program and QF Alumni Platform is also available.
