Community College helps meet industrial and vocational requirements

The announcement of the launch of the Community College of Qatar (CCQ) has attracted the attention of the local community as it is slated to meet the requirements of the industrial and vocational sectors in terms of providing competent individuals and access to continue their higher education.

His Excellency the Minister of Education and Higher Education Secretary General of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) stated in a press conference held last week that the launch of the CCQ comes within the framework of sound scientific planning to meet the country’s educational needs as it is aligned with one of Education for a New Era’s goals of an integrated, student centered education system aimed at catering to the needs of individual students from kindergarten to university. The inauguration of the college also embodies H.H the Emir’s vision of creating a knowledge-based economy by investing in Qatar’s human resources through enrolling in the college thus enables the country to compete effectively in a rapidly changing world.”

Dr. Mozah Al-Kaabi, director of the GCC Arab Bureau for Educational Training commended the progress of the project, which she considers a brilliant addition to the education development achievement in Qatar. “The establishment of the college comes in response to an essential requirement and one can predict the success of the college as its vision has been realized after a string of in-depth studies by a team of professional experts.

Member of Municipal Council, Saeed Al-Shawi described the establishment of the college as an excellent step comes a little too late as there were many students who obtained their high school certificates and could not complete their higher education for many reasons. “Many faced obstacles like strict admissions requirements for places in the university and/or lack of flexible conditions for employees to balance between studies and work. We should stress on the vision of HH the Emir in which he urged people to overcome all the difficulties and obtain the best education. Qatar University should relax and make flexible the admission rules in order to increase the number of eligible students for university education.

Khalid Al-Qahtani, operator of Bin Khaldoon Preparatory Independent School for Boys said the community college marked an important milestone in the history of Qatar the college increases capacity building of human resource in the country.

Maha Khaled from Qatar University said it is a good move on the part of the Supreme Education Council to bridge the gap for students who wished to further their studies but were unable to due to the strict regulations of other universities. “This will qualify them to achieve their dreams and qualifies them to study in other universities.”

“It is a great step forward and has relieved me and many other parents of the worries over the future of our children who did not achieve results that qualify them to go to universities and gave them a chance to continue their education” said Um Eissa, a parent.

The Arabic language coordinator from Al Wakra Independent School for Girls said she liked the idea because other universities require TOEFL and the community college will qualify students to study in any other universities they desire.

The community college is first of its kind in Qatar. The community college offers two year programs (4 semesters) leading to the “Associate’s Degree.” This degree allows the graduates either to enter the workforce directly or transfer to a university to complete their Bachelor’s Degree. The community college also grants training certificates in some fields that are highly demanded by the labor market.

In the beginning, the college will start with the Occupational /Technology Degree Programs that are not offered anywhere in Qatar leading to the Associate Degree such as Construction Engineering, Surveying Technology, Finance, Communications and Media.

From the second year, the college will offer the liberal arts programs that qualify the student after earning the associate degree to transfer to a university to continue their bachelor degree programs inside and outside Qatar.

Dr. Judith M. L. Hansen, dean of the college said, “the CCQ responds to the educational needs of our rapidly growing economy with the community college model of access to learning for all.”

She confirmed that the mission of the CCQ is to meet the educational needs in the State of Qatar and to cater to the needs of students who wish to study in universities as they can study the foundation curriculum in English and math along with university curriculum. “It meets the needs of students to join the work force without having to complete their university studies, as well as the needs of employees who wish to improve their work status,” she added.

On his part, Dr. Ibrahim Al Naimi, the head of CCQ steering committee congratulated the leadership and all SEC members and the Qatari community for the inauguration of CCQ saying that the committee studied the needs of the job market in Qatar and the post secondary education outputs to understand the real needs for a community college in Qatar.

The study revealed that Qatar needed a community college that provides scientific and art programs that qualify students to join the university after spending two years in college. “The students will receive direct attention from their professors and admission is not linked to their secondary certificate score, or date or grade obtained in English language.”

Dr. Al Naimi confirmed that the steering committee set the vision and mission of the college to ensure to meet the Qatar 2030 vision and defined the scientific and a number of technical programs, which would be provided during the first years of operation. The programs offered meet the requirements of the job market and align with the programs offered in Qatar University, Education City campus to ensure smooth transfer from CCQ to any university in the State of Qatar.