Carnegie Mellon mulls more entrepreneurship programmes

Carnegie Mellon University Qatar (CMU-Q) is working out the details of more entrepreneurship programmes to make Qatar more self-reliant, disclosed a top official of the university.“The blockade on Qatar by some of the Arab countries, has identifiedopportunities to further diversify the economy and become less relianton other countries and entrepreneurship is one of those opportunities.Entrepreneurship is a big part of our business programme here. We arestill discussing  more entrepreneurship programmes and working out thedetails,” said Dr Michael Trick, dean, CMU-Q.“The university has so far signed memorandum of understanding with morethan 27 organisations. Many of them are interested in programmes inentrepreneurship and other topics. This is another way, we can be moreengaged with the community,” continued Dr Trick.Dr Trick who was appointed as the new dean of CMU-Q a couple monthsback, was interacting  with the local media at the university campusyesterday.“One thing, I would highlight is entrepreneurship. As the economy ofQatar matures and moves away from mono-economy, we want to make certainthat we are doing our part in creating a vibrant entrepreneurshipecosystem. It can be on the computer science side and there aretremendous entrepreneurship opportunities in biology as well,”maintained, dean Dr Trick. The official also felt that things learnt in business andentrepreneurship can be applied across all the campuses in the EducationCity and the institutes can take advantage of what is being taught inentrepreneurship at CMU-Q. According to Dr Trick, student experience will be the major focus of thelearning process in the college. “Trends in education recognise that alot of what happens, takes place outside the classroom. I am comfortablewith what happens in the classroom. I am happy with the educationalexperience students are getting there. I want to have a strong sense ofcommunity, both within CMU-Q and with the overall system here inEducation City,” he explained.“University is a transformative experience. It is where children growinto adults. We have this responsibility to fully do that, not just inthe classroom. Looking at what happens when they are in the hallways,the experiences through outside lectures, events, clubs, travel—all ofthis is going to be very important in the upcoming years,” he continued.Dean Dr Trick also highlighted that scheduling the World Cup is afascinating topic. “I will  be particularly looking at how it isscheduled and what they come up with in order to use the variousstadiums. It will be an interesting place in 2022 as Qatar prepares forthe world cup to come in. We will also explore the possibilities ofcontributing to the technical aspects such as data for the tournament,”he added.