HONOUR: Najwa was selected as Class Speaker at graduation earlier this year.
Having won laurels in her early academic career besides trying her hand at entrepreneurship, she has set her sights on a greater and practical role in the social development of her country.
Najwa Abdulrahman al-Thani, who graduated from Northwestern University-Qatar (NU-Q) with honours recently, was selected as graduation speaker, has worked as assistant researcher on a leading media use survey from her university, established a media and communication company along with her colleagues and is now headed to one of the world’s top universities for her higher education.
She has secured a place in Oxford University, London for her Master’s degree. Eager to give back to her country, government and people, she intends to make a significant contribution towards the realisation of Qatar’s 2030 Vision on her return from abroad.
“I recently realised how many different hands were involved in my journey and how many people have helped me throughout my life. My family, the Qatari government, Northwestern, my high school, all of them and now I just want to figure out a way to give back to them,” Najwa tells Community during an interview.
“Professionally, I have elected to work at the National Human Rights Committee here in Qatar,” she adds.
Through her education at Oxford, she hopes to expand her knowledge and understanding of international developments after gaining the initial extensive knowledge about media and communications at NU-Q.
It was at Northwestern, she says, she developed and further polished her leadership qualities. The institute encouraged her to take charge and make initiatives. There was never a crash course or a taught lecture on how to be a leader— it was all developed by doing.
“NU-Q has a unique way of forcing you to get out of your shell and be more active in the community as well as your studies. This helped me significantly develop my leadership qualities as you are constantly interacting with people from all over the world,” says Najwa.
She believes that female contribution has grown immensely in the past ten years in Qatar. “However, we are not nearly there yet. Women need to be more active and contribute more in all areas of social development,” insists the young student.
“Women’s participation in society, in the workforce, and at universities has exponentially grown yet it still seems to be lacking. The mentality remains that a woman’s role in society is an option and not a requirement, when the truth is the opposite,” she explains.
By going to study and gain a higher education, she believes she is already helping her country. Each individual is responsible for his or her own growth and development that in return gives back to their country by creating a well-educated, ambitious and active population.
During her senior year in graduation, she had joined a group of fifteen other Qatari NU-Q students and alumni who decided to establish a media company. The intent was to fill the gap in the market by establishing an Qataris-only company that harnesses the Qatari identity and image.
“We believe we understand the values, traditions and culture of our target audience. We decided to start our own company rather than join pre-existing media companies in Qatar because we wanted the Qatari voice to have its share,” says Najwa.
After her graduation from NU-Q, she has already worked on a few short films besides creating national campaigns with her media company. On return from Oxford, she hopes to make further significant contribution from the platform of the company.
Najwa says her education at Northwestern helped her a great deal in setting clear goals for herself and the institute supported her in achieving them. Some of the highlights of her time at the university were to get involved and get the opportunity to take the reins of the Qulture Club.
The even bigger and better experience was to work as a research assistant for Northwestern’s annual research project (Media Use in the Middle East Survey, 2015), which was huge itself.
“It focused on surveying people in the Arab world’s attitudes and beliefs towards media. This multinational Arab country study exposed me to the implications of media and put my education to the test,” says Najwa, adding that it was headed by NU-Q CEO and Dean Everette E Dennis and she got an opportunity to work closely with Robb Wood and Dr Justin Martin as team members.
“Media is at the forefront of change in our world today and Northwestern offers students a unique ability to understand it, experience it and develop it,” says Najwa, lauding the institute for offering its students a very unique opportunity to engage with Qatar Foundation and the Qatari community.
It also allows connecting closely with the main campus in Evanston in ensuring similar educational experiences. This, she says, comes as huge advantage for students.
Najwa did her major in communications at NU-Q and says it is helping her post-graduation. It assisted her in the establishment of the media company by giving her the technical and theoretical skills that helped when it came to handling huge governmental and non-governmental projects.
Besides, her education at NU-Q is a primary reason she was accepted into a rigorous master’s course at Oxford University.
Her graduation university helped her get to the point where she wanted to continue her higher education. Through exploring media, she says she realised that she wanted a strong political backbone in her education because the two fields are very interrelated.
“Also, I felt totally supported through the whole process of applying for my master’s programmes in Oxford. The assistance and support at NU-Q is what ultimately encouraged and pushed me to apply,” says Najwa.
Speaking about her selection as student speaker at the graduation earlier this year, Najwa says it was memorable. She was selected after a long process where her speech was assessed and approved by anonymous Northwestern administrators and deans.
“I am usually very comfortable speaking in public however that moment was different. Of everything I had done before, I had never had to speak in front of a room filled with friends and family whom I was familiar with. However, at the end it was great. I felt support from the audience like never before,” says Najwa.
“Every time I turned to see my fellow peers, or my professors I saw their beaming faces and a nod of support. This definitely was the greatest conclusion to my time at NU-Q, and I will forever be grateful to the selection committee,” acknowledges the young media student.
“Northwestern supported me throughout my development as student. I attended lectures given by multi-disciplinary guests from all over the world, workshops led by industry professionals and university clubs and organisations’ events,” says Najwa adding that all of this helped her become a potential agent for change and a member of the country’s future knowledge based economy.
The university has given her the skills so that she can help meet Qatar’s aspirations as a highly developed country. Every citizen in this country has the privilege of the government’s support, which in return places a heavy responsibility to develop oneself in order to benefit the country, she believes.
