More than 30% of Qatar Foundation’s Academic Bridge Programme (ABP) graduates from the Class of 2012 gained admission to Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s partner universities in Education City. Of the 222 students enrolled at the ABP in May 2012, 67 or 30.2% got places in a university in Education City, making it the largest number ever admitted from a graduating class. In addition, 109 ABP graduates got places at Qatar University, eight went onto other universities in Qatar, 35 were accepted to UK universities, 11 went to universities in the US and six went to other universities around the world. Some students received more than one admission as the Education City universities offered 67 ABP students 73 admission letters. While 32 ABP graduates were admitted at Texas A&M University at Qatar, 19 got into at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, nine at Northwestern University in Qatar, seven at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, and six at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar.A total of 24 students from the Class of 2012 either did not apply to a university or did not inform the ABP of their plans.
Dr Miles Lovelace, director of the ABP, observed that last year’s slogan “Your Gateway to Education City Universities” proved true for the 67 ABP students. Almost 50% of those who applied to the six American universities in Education City were admitted, and this equals 30% of the graduating class. This confirms that the ABP Class of 2012 (85% Qatari) was the most successful ever in achieving admission to HBKU and its partner universities.As one of the centres of the Qatar Foundation, the ABP has served more than 2,300 young men and women who have attended the English language foundation programme over the past 12 years.Nearly 90% of those attending have been Qataris, and over 85% of the ABP graduates have later attended English language universities in Qatar or abroad. Since 2001, the ABP has developed a model curriculum including English, maths, science, and computer skills, combined with a wide range of other activities such as debate, MUN, clubs, school newspaper, sports teams, and student government experience.ABP emphasises a well-rounded curriculum as well as student extra-curricular programmes in order to develop the best prepared students. Each year the ABP admits highly qualified co-educational students into the intense 30-week programme. Classes range in size from eight to 16, and the faculty come from almost 20 different nationalities with experience from five to 40 years in teaching. Nearly all teachers have masters’ degrees, and several have doctor’s degrees.In 2011, the ABP was awarded five years accreditation by the Commission on English Language Accreditation, US, making it easier to fast-track ABP graduates into universities in the US without the need for them to complete a university foundation year.