Doha: Qatar University (QU) has launched a new study plan for the Spring 2021 Honors Programme in response to global challenges and the realization of excellence and innovation values. The programme was established in 2009 and became a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) in the US, rendering QU as the only Arab university to gain membership.
The programme aims to attract highly motivated and academically curious students looking to learn, innovate and master contemporary skills. It also seeks to provide a distinct qualitative curriculum following the principles of international honor programs curricula.
The new study plan is structured to include an introduction to excellence that paves the way for students to learn the foundations of academic excellence. It then embarks on a journey with eight study modules that offer flexible and practical applications such as design thinking, entrepreneurship, and leadership in an era of variables and professors’ experiences in interdisciplinary research methodologies.
These courses are offered in Arabic and English along with QU’s policies which are keen to enhance values, identity, and conscious openness to the world. QU offers this programme free to students and links them with specialised institutions and entities that provide training opportunities and prequalify them for societal innovation and community development. Despite the recent launch of the study plan (Spring 2021), it has witnessed an unprecedented turnout of students.
Only 100 students have been selected out of about 600 candidates who showed high interest in joining the programme. The programme stipulates that students enrolled in the course and plan to benefit from their respective opportunities must still study six academic semesters before graduation. Besides, candidate students must have obtained an average of 90% or higher in their high school certificates if s/he is newly enrolled in the university or an accumulative GPA of 3.3 if she/he is registered and has an academic grade record. Undoubtedly, this is a unique opportunity for high school students once admitted to QU to unleash their passion and achieve their ambitions even if they are not admitted to the college as a first choice. The programme provides an alternative golden opportunity to employ learning communities as it includes students from different disciplines and offers them topics in creative methods.
The launch of the programme this semester also witnessed partnerships and cooperation from various parties. The Qatar Career Development Center offers a curriculum designed specifically for the students to manage professional awareness and enhance their financial and professional culture. Also, there is another partnership with Innovation Café, the Qatari Women Association, Itlaq Business Management Company (Itlaq), and the Tarbeya Center for launching a series of excellence meetings with entrepreneurs of Qatar’s community, broadcast live on Instagram.
Commenting on the programme, Dean of General Studies, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Kaabi, stated that the programme is one of the important programs in the Deanship of General Studies that enhances QU’s strategy for excellence in education to achieve the visions of both the university and Qatar. He added that QU expects to graduate an elite of students highly equipped with the skills of the 21st century.
Dr. Abd Rabbo Suleiman, Director of the Honors Program at QU, stated that the new plan is part of a grand development movement that the university is witnessing towards transformation in Qatar’s higher education. The new plan comes within the university’s quest towards excellence in education and to be regionally recognised as the provider of learner-centered transformative education, based on practical application, scientific research, a system of competencies, enhanced by digitisation, and supportive of leadership.
