The College of Health Sciences (CHS), the ninth and the newest college at Qatar University (QU) and the first of its kind in Qatar, will start the application process for admission in September this year with plans to enrol male students.
The College was formed in January this year by converting the Department of Health Sciences at the College of Arts and Sciences, following approval by the Board of Regents of QU.  
“The college aims to enrol up to 150 students in its first academic year, including male students. The Health Sciences Department already comprises 346 female students – 308 undergraduate and 38 graduate level,” Dr Asmaa al-Thani, dean of CHS, told Gulf Times.
The CHS will offer five degree programmes - three BSc in Biomedical Sciences, Human Nutrition, and Public Health, and two MSc in Biomedical Sciences, and Public Health. The college is also planning to offer a BSc  in Rehabilitation Treatments, an MSc in Clinical Dietetics, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences.
“The BSc and MSc programmes will be developed in co-operation with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) while the PhD will be in  collaboration with QU colleges of medicine and pharmacy, as well as other leaders in the healthcare sector in Qatar,” she explained.
The dean noted that the CHS will create an optimal inter-professional learning environment for students with the colleges of medicine and pharmacy to learn and benchmark their performance and competencies in line with the needs of the workforce and the fast-developing healthcare sector.
The CHS will also implement new academic programmes in the light of the expansion of healthcare services in Qatar, and will advance research to have a significant influence on the healthcare system in Qatar.
According to the dean, the recent decision by the QU Board of Regents to approve a health cluster by merging the colleges of pharmacy, medicine and health sciences will maximise efficiency, focus and alignment between three highly connected disciplines, such as health sciences, pharmacy and medicine.
“The health cluster increases potential for developing future health related colleges and programmes in response to the growing needs of the Qatari healthcare sector,” she pointed out.
“It will ensure a framework for inter-professional learning opportunities for students as well as faculty collaborations in interdisciplinary research and teaching among the three colleges. This could be done with increased cost efficiency through carefully planned sharing of resources, leveraging faculty expertise across the cluster, joint courses, common facilities and aligned strategic planning and outreach opportunities.”
The official pointed out that the college will strengthen links with external stakeholders such as HMC, PHCC, Ministry of Public Health, Sidra Medical and Research Centre and others.
“These collaborations aim to help students conduct their research projects for graduation, and to provide them with internship and training opportunities in which they gain hands-on experiences that will contribute to enhancing their knowledge and skills. The college is also organising a wide range of awareness and community outreach activities.”