Western universities based in Qatar are not expecting any major shake-ups under the country’s new emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, despite what is said to be his preference for Arabic — rather than English-language — instruction at university level.
Tamim was handed power over the gas-rich Gulf state on June 25 by his 61-year-old father, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Qatar has persuaded six US universities and one each from the UK and France to set up branch campuses on a site near Doha. Under the elder emir the hope was that Hamad Bin Khalifa University, which was known as Education City before being renamed after the former emir last year, will help wean the state off its dependence on gas by educating young Qataris and building a knowledge economy.
The new emir (33) is the son of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, “who was the driving force behind Education City”, explains Christopher Davidson, reader in Middle East politics at Durham University. Davidson expects “little change” in the levels of official support for the project.
This opinion is endorsed by an academic working with the Qataris, who wished to remain anonymous. According to him, branch campuses are expecting business as usual because Tamim had already been involved in much of the decision-making regarding Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Tamim won’t interfere in the university, the academic argues, and Sheikha Mozah will continue to lead the project. Moreover the new emir is thought to be committed to funding serious research in the sciences in Qatar, although he may scale back spending on humanities and social sciences research, adds the scholar.
However, Tamim is believed to be more socially conservative than his father and is “known for his seriousness, religiousness and interest in protecting language and culture”, says Davidson adding that the emir is believed to have been behind a government order last year that forced Qatar University to switch its language of instruction in some courses from English to Arabic.
(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)