Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Higher Education Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr. Khalid Al Ali revealed that a new draft law for higher education is in its final stages and will be issued soon after the completion of its legislative session.
In an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency , Dr. Al Ali noted that the draft law will cover all that related to higher education policies, the governance and licensing of higher education institutions as well as their oversight, programs and statistics so that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education assumes the responsibility of general supervision and serves as a general umbrella for higher educational institutions while preserving the independence of universities through their boards of directors which usually include a representative of the Ministry.
Referring to the significant expansion witnessed by the state in the establishment of higher education institutions, which have now reached 34 governmental, semi-governmental, private, and security and military educational institutions, with more than 40,000 students, he stressed the Ministry's keenness on the continuous evaluation of these universities according to a governance system that guarantees the maintenance of quality and excellence standards. From this standpoint, Law No. 31 of 2020 was issued to establish the National Commission for Qualifications and Academic Accreditation, which is a separate committee from the Ministry's licensing body and carries out governance and review of the work of universities after a period of their opening and operation to ensure the quality of their educational programs.
He pointed out that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic demonstrated how communication between the ministry and the universities is close in terms of coordination regarding the study pattern and the application of safety measures and everything related to that during the pandemic.
He noted that the ceiling for admission requirements for any educational institution wishing to open a branch in Qatar has been raised, to be among the best 300 universities in the world, according to the international assessment of universities, pointing to the existence of 3 international rankings, which are the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the QS classification and the Shanghai Jiao Tong classification.
Any university that meets the criteria of being among the best 300 universities in the three aforementioned rankings has the right to apply to open a branch in Qatar often with a Qatari partner or investor, provided that it uses the same programs applied in the mother university, and grants the same certificates and the same conditions when accepting students, he said.
He pointed out that one of the distinguished Malaysian research universities has requested to open a branch in Doha, and the ministry is currently reviewing the fulfillment of all the requirements for its establishment, expecting that it may open next October. He added that there were several requests from more than one university from different countries, but only one university was able to complete the necessary procedures and requirements to start operation in the next academic year.
A supervisory body has been established to ensure the quality of education in licensed higher education institutions, namely in the National Commission for Qualifications and Academic Accreditation which has a number of experts and specialists, he said, adding this was one of the challenges that faced higher education in the past, but with the issuance of the law forming the committee work has begun towards the quality of education and ensuring the quality of its outputs in the higher education sector.
Pointing to the challenge facing some Qatari students wishing to study in universities without prior approvals from the Ministry, he stressed that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education continues to raise students' awareness of the need to obtain prior approvals to study at their own expense in universities outside the country.
Another challenge is related to collecting data on universities and students in higher education institutions, he noted.
In his interview with QNA, Dr. Al Ali revealed that the ministry's scholarship policy allocates 75 percent of scholarships to universities inside the State of Qatar and 25 percent external scholarships, noting that about 3,000 Qatari students on scholarships are studying in various universities inside and outside Qatar, 75 percent of them are female. (MORE)
Source: Qatar News Agency