QU students demand compensation for ‘lost years’

More grumblings are afoot following the Supreme Education Council’s recent decision to make Arabic the main teaching language for certain disciplines at Qatar University.

Calling themselves “victims” and lamenting the “lost years” spent learning basic English, computing and math skills while enrolled in QU’s once-mandatory Foundation Program, students are demanding compensation for their “wasted efforts.”

The Peninsula reports:

“I graduated from secondary school with high score in 2010 and joined Qatar University (Foundation Programme) as per my family’s wish. I accepted the situation with pleasure because the University has many specializations that I wanted to study, especially law. But there was one obstacle in my way. I have to get 5.5 points in IELTS examination to join the department of law and I have been working hard to secure that. Suddenly the new decision has come,” Al Sharq quoted a student, Amina Al Khater, as saying.

“My question to the University is this — can you compensate for my lost years? Each victim has to be compensated because we have spent many hours on the Foundation Programme. We have studied English, computers and mathematics. We wish to get certificates to prove that we have already studied these subjects, showing the number of hours we spent on each subject,” she added.

Thoughts?