His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation (QF), on Tuesday graced QF’s annual convocation ceremony 2019 that saw a total of 787 students graduate from nine universities.
HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of QF, and HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, President of Qatar Olympic Committee, also attended the event in Education City's Ceremonial Court, alongside ministers and dignitaries, university deans, faculty and family members.
Among the graduates, 378 are Qataris and 409 non-Qataris. There are 484 female graduates and 303 males and the graduates represent 70 nationalities, taking the total number of Education City alumni to 5,059.
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, attended the 2019 Qatar Foundation Convocation, which celebrated the 787 student graduating from nine Education City universities.
HE Sheikha Hind said: “For our Class of 2019 graduates, convocation is many things: a personal and shared celebration, a source of pride and a time to reflect on their achievements and experiences at Education City. It is a culmination – but it is also a beginning.
“At convocation, the talented, dedicated and ambitious young people that Qatar Foundation is proud to have called our students step out of one phase of their lives and into the next. A future that holds challenges and possibilities awaits them, but wherever their path leads, they will travel it, empowered by the knowledge that they are as well-equipped to create, innovate, contribute and thrive as any set of graduates in the world.
“Every member of our Class of 2019 has recognised and maximised the unique educational opportunity that Qatar Foundation provides. Their academic excellence has been matched by their growth as knowledge-seekers, critical thinkers and active citizens who are determined to be drivers of positive change. As embodiments of QF’s belief in what quality education stands for, and what it makes possible, they will always be part of our story – and we will watch with pride as they write their own.”
The Class of 2019 joins QF’s growing global alumni network, having graduated in fields such as medicine, engineering, art and design, computer science, law, communication and Islamic studies. The convocation ceremony was an opportunity for graduates from the nine universities to collectively look back on their time and accomplishments at Education City – and look to the future, QF said in a statement.
The proceedings began with students from Qatar Leadership Academy – a school under the umbrella of QF’s Pre-University Education – performing the Qatar national anthem. This was followed by the City of Knowledge, the alma mater song of Qatar Foundation.
The 2019 convocation keynote speaker was Brandon Stanton, author of ‘Humans of New York’ – a photo blog and book chronicling the lives of people in the US city – who, in his address, urged the new QF graduates to concentrate on the things in life that they alone have the power to influence and command.
“The modern world has trained us to judge all our efforts by the immediate feedback that they get, but the more sustainable and more sturdy path to success is to forget about those things that are outside your control, and focus on the things that you can control – the amount of work that you put in, and what you do on a 24-hour basis with your time,” he said.
Following the keynote address, the Mobsron project was announced as the winner of Cycle 2 of QF’s Akhlaquna Award – an initiative announced by Her Highness Sheikha Moza in 2017- that aims to help nurture positive behavioural change within society.
Created by students Nawal al-Kurbi, Almazun al-Marri and Amal al-Gherainig, Mobsron is a mobile app that helps people who are blind and visually impaired to order food, review ingredients, and compare prices.
A film featuring testimonies from Class of 2019 students was also screened at the ceremony.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, each graduate passed through the ‘Door to the Future’, a long-standing QF tradition that symbolises students entering a new stage in their lives.
The nine QF universities are Hamad Bin Khalifa University - QF member, and QF partner universities: Texas A&M University at Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Georgetown University in Qatar, UCL Qatar and HEC Paris in Qatar.
