Qatar University’s Class of 2016 largest in school’s history

Photos courtesy of Qatar University and QNA

Qatar University celebrated the graduation of its largest-ever class this week, conferring more than 2,200 degrees in separate ceremonies for men and women.

On Wednesday, the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was the guest of honor at the men’s graduation, while yesterday, his wife Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al-Thani presided over the women’s event.

Both ceremonies took place for the first time at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) in Dafna/West Bay, which opened last November.

A total of 2,236 students made up the Class of 2016 – significantly more than last year’s 1,400 graduates and more than double the number of students who were honored in 2013.

Once again, females dominated, with 1,708 marking their graduation. Meanwhile, some 528 grads were men.

Some 271 high achievers achieved GPAs of 3.50 or more. Dawa student Rokaia Alameldin Chalabi, from the College of Sharia & Islamic Studies, was the top scoring female student, with a GPA of 4.0.

Accounting graduate Khaled Hosny Hosny was the highest-achieving male student with a GPA of 3.98 and he, along with the 66 other top-scoring male graduates, received his certificate from the Emir.

QU Graduation 2016
QU Graduation 2016

More than 100 students were the first graduates from seven recently-introduced undergraduate and Master’s programs: 22 achieved a BA in Policy, Planning & Development; 19 a BA in Psychology; 19 a BSc in Public Health; 11 a BBA in Economics; two a BBA in Management Information Systems; 43 a B.Ed in Secondary Education and one student achieved a MSc in Clinical Pharmacy and Practice.

Well wishes

Under the hashtags #QUGrad16 and #جامعة_قطر16, many took to social media to congratulate the students for their efforts, while the grads also reflected on their years in school.

https://twitter.com/Nouftweets/status/738010625515868162

‘Future leaders’

QU President Dr. Hassan Rashid Al-Derham, who succeeded Prof. Sheikha Al Misnad last June, said the students’ accomplishments come as QU witnesses “a period of transition, which is essential in light of fast-growing development in all sectors of the society, particularly the economic development from which resulted numerous changes in social, cultural and intellectual areas.”

QU President Dr Hassan Rashid Al Derham
QU President Dr Hassan Rashid Al Derham

Al-Derham continued in his address:

“From today, you will assume your role in building the country’s future  We encourage you to build on your talents, your knowledge and experience towards continued success and accomplishment as you proceed into new endeavors and seek new horizons.”

QU made it into a number of international rankings this year, including debuting in the Times Higher Education‘s list of the world’s top universities.

And in a bid to help fill a gap in qualified, homegrown medical expertise, the university launched its College of Medicine this academic year, accepting 80 students in the first intake for its MD program.

However, in March the university announced it would be relaxing its admissions standards to make it easier for more applicants to be accepted into most of its undergraduate programs.

It was the second time in the space of a few months that QU has revised its policies to make it easier for struggling students to improve their GPA and get a degree.

In December, it announced that its academic probation procedures had changed, making it more difficult to expel students from the university, and giving them more opportunities to make up for bad grades or failed courses.

Meanwhile, expansion plans continue at the university. It currently has a student body of around 15,000, but this is expected to rise to 25,000 by 2019.

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