Qatar University President Dr. Hassan bin Rashid Al Derham (second right) along with other officials during the induction meeting for new faculty members.
Doha: The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Qatar University (QU) organised an induction meeting for new faculty members dubbed “Ya-Hala,” in the presence of the President of the University, Dr. Hassan bin Rashid Al Derham, the Vice-Presidents and officials on Friday.
The meeting included speeches by the President of the University and a number of Vice-Presidents and officials concerned with the academic, research and student sectors at Qatar University.
The event was attended by Dr. Omar Al Ansari, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Maryam Al Maadeed, Vice President for Scientific Research and Graduate Studies, Dr. Eiman Mustafawi, Vice-President for Student Affairs at Qatar University, Dr. Tamer Khattab, Acting Director of the Center for Excellence, Teaching and Learning at the University, and a number of other faculty members.
Dr. Al Derham, QU President, welcomed the new faculty members and said: “I am pleased to welcome all of you with the most special and warm welcome to our new colleagues. Here at Qatar University we offer excellence.
While academic labour at different Arab and worldwide universities has many things in common, it also varies slightly from university to university depending on their individual systems, regulations, aims, visions, and missions.
“Therefore, it was only fair that we inform you about the academic and student aspects, opportunities, research grants, graduate studies, and other topics that make it easier for you to get to know the university, its culture, systems, and programmes that are assigned to you. This will help you quickly integrate and interact with the various programmes that you need to use to complete your tasks, as well as deal with them easily and smoothly.”
He said as the first point of entry for new faculty members into the academic community, the “Ya-Hala” introductory meeting, which QU used to organise at the start of every year, has grown to be a highly significant academic tradition. In this case, the university’s efforts deserve praise.
Dr. Omar Al Ansari, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, restated Qatar University’s welcome to the new faculty members, highlighting the importance of the teaching staff’s quality, excellence, and integrity as well as other requirements that faculty members must be keen to uphold while working at QU.
He said that the university currently includes 11 colleges and has 1,391 faculty members in the various disciplines offered by the university, and includes 50 scientific programmes at the undergraduate level and 46 programmes at the postgraduate level. In her speech on the occasion, Dr. Eiman Mustafawi, QU Vice President for Student Affairs spoke about the Student Affairs sector and provided important information about student ratios and their distribution to university majors and colleges, in addition to the services provided by that positively affect university life and keep students as much time as possible on campus.
Dr. Nasser bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Assistant Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, stressed that the university has witnessed an increase and diversification in the number of scientific research centres, units and programmes, a rise in the number of patents, and local and global partnerships, as well as its ambitious plans to develop national cadres and promote and advance research policies.
