Qatar University’s (QU) Foundation Programme (FP) at the Deanship of General Studies recently celebrated the 10-year re-accreditation of its Foundation Programme, Department of English (FPDE). 
The event was attended by the dean of General Studies Prof Ibrahim al-Kaabi, director of the Foundation Programme, Dr Hezam al-Awah, FP faculty and administrative staff. The re-accreditation was granted by the American Commission on English Language Accreditation (CEA).
Director of the Foundation Programme Dr Hezam al-Awah said, “The re-accreditation of the Foundation English Programme endorses the credibility of the FPDE and it indicates the quality of its courses. We are proud of this achievement, which was the fruit of the tremendous efforts of the FP Accreditation Committee for successfully complying with the international standards, to ensure the quality of learning outcomes.”
FP associate director for Academic Affairs Dr Nadeem Hashem said, "This re-accreditation by CEA indicates the high-quality educational standards of the programme offered at Qatar University and emphasises the professionalism of the Foundation Programme management and efforts of faculty and staff in fulfilling with the international standards. The FP English courses prepare Qatar University students for bachelor degrees that include sports science, secondary education, medicine, pharmacy, in addition to science and engineering through the medium of English.”
Dr Mohammad Manasreh, head of FPDE, reiterated that it had taken painstaking efforts to bring the programme up to the level of the CEA standards. He added that the CEA standards cover not only mundane areas such as curriculum, faculty qualifications and testing, but also planning, administration, student services and educational facilities at Qatar University.
The initial accreditation was granted in 2010 before the restructure of the English in 2012 into a one-academic-year programme. As a result, CEA conducted a new comprehensive self-study and a site visit of the new structure where FPDE and English courses were subsequently granted a second term of re-accreditation for five years in 2013. In 2018, another new comprehensive self-study was ready, and the CEA was invited for the re-accreditation site visit in January 2019, which resulted in a 10-year re-accreditation that lasts until 2029.