QF graduates aspire as architects of change

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Over the past 25 years, Qatar has provided endless possibilities for learners, researchers and innovators among others by helping them become change-makers. Across the partner universities Qatar Foundation (QF) helps learners become architects of change and envisage an ecosystem of huge opportunities by constantly designing new avenues. The Peninsula spoke to some graduates about their learning journey at QF. Nour Turki Amin AlAreed, a graduate from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), said that QF provided with the opportunity to study at one of the best design schools in the world, from the comfort of the place she calls the campus as home. ''It was important to me to pursue my higher education at a well established university with a rich history and experience; as I understood the value of being at an esteemed institution. VCUarts Qatar helped sculpt me into a well rounded individual, in addition to providing me with the best education possible,” said Nour. Her batch mate Haya Khalid Ahmad Ali Alansari graduated with a bachelor’s in fine arts from VCUarts Qatar. ''While I was a student, I never knew what I really wanted to study and in which university or even which major to take. As the years were passing in my educational journey in finding what really captures my interest. I have found that studying at Qatar Foundation made me gain a lot of communication, community, and creative skills,” said Haya. While, Auguste Piromalli graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) with a degree in Business Administration and he lived all his life in France before moving to Qatar as an international student to attend the campus. ''I chose to study at Carnegie Mellon University because its vision, ''to have a transformative impact on society through continual innovation in education, research, creativity, and entrepreneurship” resonated with me. Choosing the campus of CMUQ in Doha, Qatar allowed me to enrich my perspective and being in QF allowed me to interact with a very diverse and extremely interesting group of individuals who are all pursuing the same vision,” he said. Students studying within QF’s Education City (EC) have a unique opportunity to gain depth and breadth through cross-registration at other EC universities. Fatima Al Naimi is a graduate who has benefit from the cross-registration and pursued joint certificate in Media and Politics from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) and Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q): Major in International politics with a minor in Arabic. ''One of the many benefits of studying at Georgetown University was its location within EC. It has created a community that fosters creativity, innovation, and social development. By choosing to study at a QF partner university, I was also signing up to become part of this larger community of doctors, scholars, and engineers who are all dedicated to the pursuit of social and academic excellence. As such, my time at Georgetown University was shaped by my interdisciplinary interactions with fellow students and professors in different universities, in addition to my access to facilities throughout EC. One of the many benefits of this is the opportunity to crossregister at the different universities; it was this opportunity that allowed me to pursue an interdisciplinary certificate in Media and Politics on top of my degree in International Politics, a certificate that was organized by both Georgetown University and Northwestern University,” said Fatima. Dana Darwish another graduate from GU-Q said that her learning experience during the pandemic ultimately transformed from physical learning to online teaching and it did have an impact. ''I think most students can agree that we really did take student life on campus for granted; being around other students and talking to our professors in class and meeting inperson felt more natural than having to manually set up times for meeting online. While we have definitely missed all aspects of campus life, the pandemic allowed us to learn how to cope with the most difficult circumstances using various adaptive online tools, which really brought out the creativity and intelligence of all students in coping with such difficult circumstances. Nevertheless, I am thankful to have had access to my education during the pandemic, a privilege many students in the world have struggled to gain access to,” she said. Leen Al Homoud graduated with a Electrical Engineering degree from the Texas A & M University in Qatar (TAMUQ). She is a undergraduate research scholar, President of the Electrical Engineering Honor Society and the IEEE Student Chapter, student leader in the Student Engineers’ Council, peer tutor, orientation leader and traveled with TAMUQ for service learning trips and studied abroad at main campus in Spring and Summer 2020. ''I chose to study at TAMUQ because I realised I can earn a world-class education while staying close to my family. That meant a lot to me because it helped me a lot in terms of my high school to university life transition. The community at TAMUQ and Qatar Foundation as a whole was so welcoming, encouraging, and challenging, and I felt right at home from the first moment that I walked onto campus. The academic excellence and reputation, let alone the wholesome community, were one of the many reasons I decided to join TAMUQ, as well,” she said. While, Dana AlYafei a Mechanical Engineering graduate from TAMUQ said that she choose the campus as it gave me the opportunity to study at an international university near home, as well as get the unique opportunity to cross-register at other partner universities. Speaking about the learning experience during the pandemic, Dana said, ''As an engineering major graduate, engineering relies on hands-on experience as much as theorybased learning, so missing that part of education, due to the pandemic, was difficult as I enjoyed it very much to solidify my understandings in class and give me more insight to real life situations. It was very challenging at first, but with time it became easier to cope with. The university provided with technological services, such as providing any applications or equipment that would facilitate with students’ projects and giving access to labs, with expert supervision; which all helped with closing that gap and allowing me to continue learning as if I were on campus.” Toqa Afifi a graduate from the Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q) had the opportunity to participate in an infectious diseases and public health elective at the Ministry of Public Health organised by the university in collaboration. ''I loved the idea of getting quality education from worldrenowned institutions while still being able to go back home to my family, live with my childhood friends and engage with the incredibly diverse culture under the Qatar Foundation umbrella,” she said.MENAFN28052021000063011010ID1102159688