To strengthen the existing partnerships, Qatar and US yesterday announced several new collaborations in areas of culture, education and research.
US Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce announced the new initiatives at a virtual session on Culture and Education Cooperation during the Third Qatar-US Strategic Dialogue.
Royce and Under Secretary of Ministry of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, underscored the significance of cooperation in the fields of education and culture, as Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture has also been announced.
“This is the second Education and Cultural Cooperation Session at the Strategic Dialogue, and there is much to discuss about the unprecedented level of cooperation between our two governments. Many educational, cultural, sports, and professional exchange programmes managed by the US Embassy’s Public Affairs Section directly support the Qatari-US bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest and national security,” said Royce.
“A very important Statement of Intent (SoI) on the Year of Culture was signed on Monday. This Statement of Intent builds upon the memorandum of understanding we signed on education and culture last year,” Royce added. Besides the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture, the new partnerships include an initial collaboration between Qatar Foundation (QF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) on water detection, and a memorandum of understanding between the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Qatar Foundation and Qatar Museums.
Also with the partnership between Qatar Foundation and US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), Qatar Foundation’s Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) will host two US Fulbright scholars in January 2021, according to Royce. She also said that US is looking forward to hosting Qatari scholars at their universities.
“We will continue to expand and strengthen our bilateral cooperation going forward, as described in the memoranda of understanding we have signed between the US and Qatar, which share an interest in fostering mutual understanding, crossing barriers and building bridges between the people and institutions of our two countries to further our cultural ties,” said Royce.
In his remarks about US collaboration with Qatar Foundation entities, Dr. Ahmad M. Hasnah, President of HBKU, said that the aim of establishing Education City was to look at opportunities beyond graduating students.
“When Qatar Foundation embarked on establishing Education City by establishing a university branch campuses within, the aim of the city was to go beyond graduating a number of students but to build bridges between cultures to promote more dialogue and to really provide our students, whether in Qatar or in the US with the ability to really exchange ideas to work on an interesting project together in line with that philosophy,” he said.
Speaking about the collaboration between Qatar Foundation and Nasa water detection, Art B. Chmielewski, Project Manager at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the study will contribute new data to improve the understanding of climate change.
