The University of Aberdeen in Qatar (UA-Q), the only branch campus of the university outside the UK, will start its undergraduate programmes from this September, an official of the university has told Gulf Times.

“We will start the college on September 10, the same day the University of Aberdeen resumes the academic year in the UK. We will start this year two undergraduate programmes, namely Accountancy & Finance and Business Management,” said Sheikha Dr Aisha bint Faleh bin Nasser al-Thani, chairperson of the board of directors of Al Faleh Group for Educational Services (AFG) that will be running the University of Aberdeen campus in Qatar.



Sheikha Aisha and Sir Ian at the opening ceremony of the college


The present premises of the college, located in Al Mamoura, was recently inaugurated by University of Aberdeen vice-chancellor Prof Sir Ian Diamond and Sheikha Aisha.

The college is expected to move to its permanent facility within a couple of years.

“We plan to start with around 300 students this year. The present facility can accommodate about 1,500 students but we want to start with a small group. The programmes are very unique and there are no other private universities in Qatar that offer these programmes. We will add more programmes in the coming years,” Sheikha Aisha said.

“AFG started some 15 years ago offering quality education with Doha Academy at school level. We know that our students have limited options in the higher education sector,” she added. “So we did a field study with a private organisation and identified that these are the subjects that the students and the country need.”

“There is great demand for these programmes and we are getting good response from the students,” Sheikha Aisha said.

The duration of the UA-Q programmes is four years and the first year will be a preparatory one.

The requirements for admission will be the same as the one in Aberdeen main campus and the students will be admitted on merit.

“We want to cater to the local people and make it indigenous and customise the facilities with a local Arabic touch. The entire faculty will be PhD holders with lots of teaching experience in the UK. Already, in a very short time, we have given admission to about 10 students and the admission process is going on very well as there is a high demand for these programmes,” Sheikha Aisha said.

According to her, students from the Qatar campus will be able to use all the resources of University of Aberdeen main campus.

“All the resources of the main campus are available online. Students in Qatar can access all these resources," she added.

The University of Aberdeen is one of the oldest universities in the UK and has been ranked 137 on the world’s universities list and fifth in the UK.

It has a total student strength of 14,500 from more than 120 countries.

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