AFG College with the University of Aberdeen will hold the graduation of its first batch of students next month at The Ritz-Carlton Doha, marking the successful journey of the university within a short span of two years.

“Our student population is growing very fast. Now we have about 540 students for the undergraduate and master’s programmes. This year, we had great demand and were oversubscribed for all the programmes and still have a large number of students on the waiting list. We have expanded our facilities by adding two more blocks to the present campus in Maamoura,” Dr Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh al-Thani, chairperson of Al Faleh Group, told Gulf Times.

There are students from 17 nationalities on the campus with 51% of them being female and 49% male.


Dr Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh al-Thani

“About 60% of the students are Qataris and it is a big achievement. Around 80 students are graduating this year from both undergraduate and master’s programmes. They are graduating in business, finance and accounting," Sheikha Aisha noted.

Sheikha Aisha, who is a guest lecturer for one of the business modules at the master’s level at the university, will be conferred an honorary doctorate in International Law by the University of Aberdeen during the graduation ceremony in November.

“Some of our students already took part in the graduation ceremony on the home campus of Aberdeen. When the students graduate, we give them the choice to travel to Aberdeen and attend the convocation at the university and some of the students participated in the graduation ceremony this year. Now we are holding our graduation ceremony for all in Doha,” she said.

The university has also announced expansion plans offering significant learning opportunities for students in Qatar.

“We are in the final stages of introducing the master’s programme in International Commercial Law and waiting for approval from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. We are set for the launch of the programme and, pending approval from the ministry, we hope to start the programme from January 2020. There is great demand for the programme,” Sheikha Aisha noted.

The college is focusing on phase two of the permanent campus.

“We are planning for four colleges and will start with the school of business followed by the school of law. It will be followed by engineering and medical schools,” the official continued.

“We are working with a local company for the construction and an international company for the design. The design is coming from Aberdeen University. We are on a project not just for a few years but for generations to come. The University of Aberdeen has the biggest teaching hospital in Northern Europe and we want to mirror something of that sort in Qatar along with the college of medicine."

The chairperson also noted that the university has started a Bedaya shop on the campus, spreading the spirit of entrepreneurship.

University of Aberdeen, the Scottish University of the Year in 2019, is a top 30 UK University (Complete University Guide 2020). Currently, University of Aberdeen is a top 170 University worldwide (World University Rankings 2020 – The Times Higher Education).

AFG College with the University of Aberdeen is also working on collaboration and agreement with other universities and institutes within Qatar, Sheikha Aisha added.