Research education a key objective for HBKU, says official

Research education is one of the main objectives of the university, a top official of the Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) emphasised yesterday.Speaking at a media briefing, HBKU president Dr Ahmad M Hasnah said that the infrastructure of the university will be developed as per the needs of the university.At present, he said, the university has enough number of classrooms, buildings, equipment and all the other necessary elements.Meanwhile, the official stated that the university will hold this year’s graduation ceremony next week.Dr Hasnah said: “The university will have a total of 111 students graduating this year – 52 from the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, 43 from the College of Science and Engineering, and 16 from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Of the graduating students, 55% are Qataris, and the percentage of Qataris has risen from 48% from last year.”The HBKU has about 450 students in total, and more than 200 new students have been enrolled for the programmes in fall 2015.The male to female ratio is close to 1:1 for the current HBKU student population.As for the faculty, there are 51 full-time faculty as well as joint faculty from across the HBKU’s three research institutions and from partners both inside and outside of Qatar Foundation.Dr Hasnah said: “The infrastructure for the university will be developed as the need arises. We have necessary infrastructure for all the programmes as well as for administrative purposes, including the offices for all the officials. Many of our programmes are run at the Liberal Arts and Sciences building. We also have the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies building, which runs several of our programmes.”As for the university’s research plans, the president said: “Research is built within the programmes as well as in the classroom teaching. We have the research facilities available in the partner universities as well as in our research complex where our research institutes are stationed.”Dr Hasnah said: “Our research institutes have initiated research programmes that have great impact nationally. The Qatar Computer Research Institute has created an Arabic reader being used in schools across Qatar.“The Qatar Environment and Energy Institute is working on several initiatives on tackling energy problems and integrating solar energy, use of industrial water and many more.“The Qatar Biomedical Research Institute was part of developing the National Cancer Strategy.”The official also noted that the university is providing several academic programmes that are locally relevant which have international impact.