A view of the campus of new Indian university in Qatar, MIE-SPPU Institute of Higher Education.
The first Indian university in Qatar, a campus of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) with a capacity of 660 students, is all set to start classes on September 5 this year.
The university, ‘Milestone International Education - Savitribai Phule Pune University (MIE-SPPU) Institute of Higher Education’, will have 11 classrooms with 60 students per classroom and a campus covering 6,300 square metres.
“So far, over 50 students have been enrolled, one third of them are female students. We are expecting in the first year about 200 students,” said MIE-SPPU President Hassan Chougule in an exclusive interview with The Peninsula. The MIE-SPPU Institute of Higher Education’s facilities such as laboratories, auditorium, indoor recreation area, cafeteria, library, book store and two shops for stationery items, computer and mobile accessories are all ready to serve, Chougule added.
Chougule pointed out that the university has stepped up efforts to connect with the community through Arabic social media and bloggers to enrol students for the academic year 2021-22.
He added that well-qualified and experienced professors, deputed from Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), will teach at the newly-opening Indian University in Qatar.
The university is situated at Barwa Commercial Avenue on Industrial Area road at Ain Khalid.
“Professor Bimal Nath, a well-qualified and experienced professional in higher education has been appointed as Director/Principal of the University. For the first year, SPPU will depute most of the faculty members,” said Chougule. Speaking about the criteria for admission, he said that students of any nationality who passed grade 12th or senior secondary school examination can apply for registration.
“In the first year, the registration will be only for students residing in Qatar. In future if the Government of Qatar starts issuing student visas then the students from other neighbouring countries can also apply for admission,” said Chougule.
He said there is a big demand for Asian universities in Qatar. “The problem is not the availability of the universities but people need affordable higher education. We have conducted a survey in Qatar. The minimum fees in a universities operating in Qatar is QR50,000 per year or QR25,000 per semester.”
He said that the fees in MIE-SPPU was first decided to start with QR30,000 per year but on public demand it is now further reduced by QR2,000. “Now the fees in our university is QR28,000, QR30,000 and QR34,000 as per the academic programme.”
MIE-SPPU has also decided to provide bus shuttle service between college and Freezone metro station for convenience of the students.
“For any new project, it will take time to get popularity but we are confident to enrol targeted number of students by the time of opening because we are offering high quality education at an affordable fee,” said Chougule.
MIE-SPPU President Hassan Chougule
He said that one of the major goals of this university is to provide affordable higher education to the community for the nationals and residents equally.
“Commerce and management programs are attracting the highest number of students. In first year, we are offering four programs including Arts, Science, Commerce and Management which are approved by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.”
He said that there are eight specialised subjects under the programs. “In Arts, we are offering Economics and Psychology; in Commerce International Banking, Banking and Finance; in Management, Marketing and Finance; and in Science, Data Science and Information Technology. These are four-year degree programs,” said Chougule.
To a question about future expansion plans, he said: “We have also decided in consultation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to offer part time programs in next few months. The proposed part time programs are Executive MBA for graduates who are employed in Qatar.”
“The second program is BEd. because there is a huge demand for this program among Indian teaching community mainly working with Indian schools in Qatar.”
He said that the part time programs will support the community and university in many ways. Regarding adding full time programs, Chougule said that pharmaceutical and paramedical programs would be potential in Qatar, which will be in the coming years, subject to approval from MoEHE.
He said that a representative of Savitribai Phule Pune University will be deputed to MIE-SPPU Institute of Higher Education as ‘Coordinator’ who will take care of all examinations and convocations to be held in Qatar.
Any student who has been enrolled in MIE-SPPU will be considered as a student of Savitribai Phule Pune University and can join any of the 900 colleges affiliated to (SPPU) Pune University. Milestone International Education (MIE) is a local organisation with composition of Ali Abdul Latif Al Misnad, Mohammed bin Hammam Al Abdulla and DPS Indian Group headed by Hassan Chougule.
SPPU is in the list of top 10 Indian Universities and only one from State of Maharashtra, situated in Pune, India, over 411 acres of lush green land.
