This year’s graduating class is the largest since HEC Paris’ inception in Qatar, a “testament to the quality and impact of its programmes”, it said in a statement yesterday.
Dr Nils Plambeck, dean and CEO of HEC Paris in Qatar, and Prof Nathalie Lugagne, associate dean of Executive Education at HEC Paris, were among the speakers who praised the graduates at the ceremony, which was emceed by Hisham Nourin, director, Business Enhancement and Projects, Qatar Foundation and HEC Paris alumnus from the EMBA Class of 2016.
HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi, and Msheireb Properties CEO and an HEC Paris alumnus Abdulla Hassan al-Mehshadi attended the ceremony.
Among the 139 graduates for 2017, who included 45 participants from the sixth cohort of HEC Paris EMBA and 94 from the fourth and fifth cohorts of SBUM, were Ilham al-Qaradawi, professor of physics at Qatar University and one of the 50 most influential people in Qatar.
Other graduates included Mohamed al-Kuwari, sports TV presenter and executive director of Qatar Charity; Layla al-Dorani, founder of Raw ME and winner of Al Fikra Qatar’s National Business Plan Competition 2012; and Deepak Kaura, executive chair, Foundation Medical Services, Sidra Medicine.
More than half of the 2017 EMBA graduates are Qataris, with 22 coming from 15 different nationalities: American, Australian, Bahraini, British, Canadian, French, Indian, Irish, Lebanese, Palestinian, Sudanese, Tunisian, Turkish, Ukrainian and Yemeni. Twenty per cent of the EMBA graduates for 2017 are women.
Both SBUM cohorts have nearly gender equality, an indication HEC Paris said it “is particularly proud of”. A total of 84% of graduates from both SBUM cohorts are Qatari. This year’s pool of honoured graduates also included American, Canadian, Egyptian, Filipino, Greek, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Nigerian, Venezuelan and Yemeni nationals.
Welcoming the classes of 2017, Dr Plambeck, said: “The diverse range of sectors our participants come from reinforces the enduring appeal of our programmes and the reputation of HEC Paris. Having had the great pleasure of personally teaching many of them, it was uplifting to see that the calibre of the participants was very high, as always.
“This enabled HEC Paris to combine globally renowned executive education with a stimulating learning environment.”
In addition to the graduation ceremony, the event included an awards ceremony honouring EMBA and SBUM participants for their work.
The award for the Best Capstone Project for the EMBA Class of 2017 was presented to Hamad al-Hajri, Khalid al-Tamimi, Mohamed al-Kuwari and Saud al-Attiya for their project titled ‘MSHWAR’.
The award for the Best Thesis for SBUM 2017 Cohort 1 was received by Fatma Ahmad al-Bishri, while the Best Thesis Award for SBUM 2017 Cohort 2 went to Sara Khamis al-Khelaifi.
HE Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi and other dignitaries with the HEC Paris Qatar Class of 2017.
