The new academic year at Qatar University (QU) was inaugurated with president Dr Hassan al-Derham highlighting in his annual convocation address the vision for the future and the most important achievements of the past year.
The event was attended by QU leadership, deans, heads of departments, programme directors, faculty members, staff, students, and alumni.
Al-Derham also honoured QU members in various categories.
He said: “During the 41 years since its inception, the university interacted with its community and contributed to the development of Qatar with its academic and research expertise.
“QU will keep developing based on the needs of the community ... to support the road to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030.”
“Our university is the largest in Qatar, with more than 20,000 students and 40,000 alumni. It houses the largest campus in the country,” al-Derham stated. “This is why QU must meet the aspirations of the diverse community in Qatar.
“For that, during the past year, QU’s new strategic plan, which covers the period from 2018 to 2022, has been launched to complement the achievements and development and to begin the process of transformation.”
“Our mission, our new vision and our core values have inspired us to shape the direction of the new strategy and build on a comprehensive and rigorous strategic analysis to provide the best level of education to our students, encourage them to rely on their talents and inspire them to realise their potential,” al-Derham noted.
Qatar University has made a significant advancement in the international ranking: it has been ranked 332 in the QS World University Rankings 2019, a 17-position jump from its 2018 performance.
It is among the top three ranked universities in the Arab region.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) is a British company specialising in education.
The university also improved in the “QS Top 50 Under 50” ranking by one position on its 2018 performance, and by 13 positions on its 2016-2017 performance.
The university has made a huge improvement in the Times Higher Education Emerging Economies University Rankings, by advancing its position from 75 in 2017 to 35 in the 2018 rankings.
“In the academic year 2017-2018, QU has received 80 research projects funded by Qatar National Research Fund,” al-Derham said.
“We have research partnerships with 332 local and international institutions. The university has also succeeded in increasing the number of research papers by 422% between 2010-2017, and the university researchers were able to publish more than 1,400 research papers and registered six patents in 2017,” he added.
Al-Derham distributed awards in various categories, such as:
n Outstanding Teaching Award – Dr Husam Aldamen and Dr Lukman Thalib;
n Distinguished Service Contributions for Faculty Members – Dr Nabil Ghantous and Dr Abdelsalam Gomaa Abdelsalam;
n Merit Award – Dr Sumaya al-Maadeed;
n Media Award – Dr Nayef al-Shamari and Dr Majed al-Ansari;
n Employee of the Year Award – Maha al-Thani and Maha al-Dafa; and
n Young Alumnus Award – Jassim al-Namaa and Subah al-Kuwari.
Dr Hassan al-Derham addressing QU community during the convocation.
