Sweden’s Lund University will sign a memorandum of understanding with Qatar University (QU) tomorrow, focusing on long-term co-operation.
The MoU would be inked between the Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, QU, and Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University, at a ceremony in Qatar University, the Swedish embassy said in a statement yesterday.
The MoU aims to develop academic and cultural exchange between the two institutions in the areas of education and research and hopes to enhance bilateral relations between Swedish and Qatari educational institutions.
The first concrete output of this collaboration will be a research project titled “Nation and State in the Middle East”, carried out by an international network created by CMES, and will bring together the Middle East Centres of Lund University, London School of Economics and Sussex University together with QU.
The delegation from CMES, headed by the centre’s director, Prof Leif Stenberg, will consist of Prof Umut Özkirimli, Spyros A Sofos, Richard Stenelo, international director at Lund University, and Christina Rothman, chief administrator at CMES. They will be in Doha from today until Tuesday to sign the agreement with QU, represented by Dr Kaltham Ali G al-Ghanim, and hold meetings with officials of other institutions in Qatar.
This will be the sixth visit to Qatar by Lund University officials since November 2014.
It marks an important follow up to the official visit to Qatar, in February this year, by Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutsson, during which Lund University was represented by deputy president Dr Eva Wiberg, the statement noted.
Lund University has its own stand at QU’s Study Abroad Fair, which is taking place tomorrow. There is a separate stand of the Swedish embassy as well at the fair.
Prof Leif Stenberg
