Founded in 2010, the College of Science and Engineering unit aims to launch degree programmes that address critical industry needs.
Qatar’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) will launch a series of new undergraduate engineering programmes through its College of Science and Engineering (CSE) starting in the academic year 2024-25, the institution announced on Wednesday.
HBKU’s CSE will offer forward-looking bachelor’s degrees across various disciplines in the engineering sciences, mainly covering the coming needs of the labour market in both the public and private sectors.
These undergraduate offerings also underscore HBKU’s consistently positive evolution from a predominantly postgraduate studies-focused institution in Qatar, as expressed by the Qatari institution.
Dr Ahmad M. Hasnah, President of HBKU, said that the programme is a substantial achievement for the university, stating, “This is another milestone in Education City’s legacy. It marks a natural next step in what has already seen HBKU consistently advancing into the multidisciplinary and research-centric academic institution it is today.
“Our mandate to support Qatar in solving critical challenges vital to national development compels us to always look forward and expand, developing students, graduates, and professionals of the highest calibre,” he added.
HBKU will admit its inaugural freshman class to these programs this fall, also including the last batch of applicants to Texas A&M University at Qatar, which recently announced plans to close its campus in Qatar in 2028.
Earlier this year, the university’s board had voted to shut down Texas A&M at Qatar (TAMUQ) over what the Board of Regents Chair, Bill Mahomes, cited as “heightened instability in the Middle East” following an assessment of the regional situation in late 2023.
An earlier report by the Texas Tribune said the decision came after Washington, DC think tank, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), questioned the partnership between QF and Texas A&M in light of the ongoing war in Gaza.
In a statement, QF said Texas A&M’s decision “has been influenced by a disinformation campaign aimed at harming” its interests, noting that the university’s board did not attempt “to seek out the truth from Qatar Foundation before making this misguided decision.”
“It is disturbing that this disinformation has become the determining factor in the decision and that it has been allowed to override the core principles of education and knowledge, with no consideration to the significant positive impact that this partnership has brought for both Qatar and the U.S.,” QF said.
The Qatari organisation added, “It is deeply disappointing that a globally respected academic institution like Texas A&M University has fallen victim to such a campaign and allowed politics to infiltrate its decision-making processes.”
QF’s Education City is home to some of the world’s leading educational institutes and start-up incubators, and HBKU has been home to the site since 2010.
Notably named after Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, former Amir of Qatar, the university began graduating students in 2014.
