Dr César Malavé, Dean of Texas A&M University at Qatar. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
Doha: Hundreds of Aggie engineers from Texas A&M at Qatar have innumerable success stories by holding key positions in the industry, becoming entrepreneurs and academics.
The first classes of Texas A&M at Qatar began in Education City in September 2003 with 29 students. Since then, the student population has grown to more than 500 engineering students, and as of today, more than 1,050 engineering degrees have been awarded.
“It is a tremendous accomplishment, it’s great excitement and testimony of the great work done here from the beginning,” said Dr César O. Malavé, Dean of Texas A&M at Qatar.
“It’s not about the number of students but the quality of graduates the campus has produced. Most of them hold key positions in the industry, few of them have become entrepreneurs and four have become academics. It is inspiring to see entrepreneurs as they are the ones Qatar needs to create new industries,” he told The Peninsula.
Texas A&M commands an international reputation as one of the world’s premier engineering programmes, and Texas A&M University at Qatar builds on that esteem. Students at Texas A&M University at Qatar receive the same top-tier training as students enrolled at the main campus, so each of the engineering programmes offered by Texas A&M University at Qatar-chemical, electrical, mechanical and petroleum ranks among the top American universities for education and research.
“We have succeeded because we have a good faculty, curriculum and we have right missions and facilities,” said Dr O. Malavé.
He said that at Texas A&M at Qatar a majority of 54 % are Qatari and most have an interest in electrical and mechanical engineering. The freshman class at Texas A&M at Qatar has enrolled an average of around 100 new students and this year it has increased by 50 %.
“Electrical and mechanical engineering are very popular among students, because of job opportunities,” said Dr O. Malavé.
The branch campus dedicates tremendous resources to advanced research, and students work closely with faculty and graduate students throughout their undergraduate career.
For its future, Texas A&M at Qatar plans to introduce Project Based Learning module. It is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.
“We have found that areas such as ethics and safety standards will become even more important in the future. To bring this into the curriculum, we are going to introduce Project Based Learning,” said Dr O. Malavé.
He also emphasised the necessity of students diversified field such as engineering and medicine, engineering and law, engineer and business.
