Dr. Ahmad M Hasnah, President of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), addressing the Orientation Day event at the College of Islamic Studies at HBKU in Doha, yesterday. Pics: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
The Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a homegrown research and graduate studies institute, has seen a significant increase in the number of new admissions in 2019-2020 academic year, with the introduction of eight new programmes and a newly inaugurated college.
The university this year received 375 new students from 46 different nationalities and 26 percent of them are Qatari nationals. It is a 13 percent increase from last year’s admissions and is considered the largest class of HBKU since its foundation in 2010.
The new batch of students was selected from thousands of applications for 33 undergraduate and graduate degrees offered by HBKU’s six colleges, according to senior officials at HBKU.
The expansion of its degree offering programme reflects a logical continuation of the university’s consistent growth and leadership as an academic institution and world-class architect of multidisciplinary education and research in Qatar, according to Dr. Ahmad M Hasnah, President, HBKU.
“HBKU’s new degree programmes are tailored to build specialised capacity to address the most in-demand current and future skills of local and international employment markets,” he told The Peninsula speaking on the sidelines of university’s Orientation Day 2019 to mark the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year. He highlighted that the new programmes are designed to meet the increasing challenges of the developing world.
In last academic year, the university introduced eight pioneering degrees across the fields of Islamic studies; humanities and social sciences; science and engineering; law; health and life sciences; and public policy.
“We had a very strict selection and screening process to choose 375 students for the new academic year. They were screened among more than 20,000 applications, which also shows the growing demand for programs at HBKU,” said Mohammed Hassan Al Salat, Admissions Specialist, HBKU.
The newly introduced programs at HBKU include Master of Laws in International Law and Foreign Affairs and Master of Laws in International Economic and Business Law from the College of Law.
“We are taking a new batch for the Juris Doctor (JD) graduate law program and for the two new masters programs. Both programs are interdisciplinary and aim to have people in Qatar educated in international law in understanding foreign affairs,” said Dr Susan L. Karamanian, Dean, College of Law, HBKU.
A Master of Science in Exercise Science from the College of Health and Life Sciences has been introduced at HBKU as and offered as a joint degree with the University of South Carolina.
“This programme will help in preventive healthcare in the country and to help combat the high prevalence of lifestyle diseases. There are huge excitement shown by applicants to join the new programme and we will be recruiting around 10 students for the first batch of Master of Science in Exercise Science,” said Dr. Edward Stuenkel, Founding Dean, College of Health and Life Sciences, HBKU.
A Master of Public Policy offered by the College of Public Policy — HBKU’s newly inaugurated college. “I did my first masters degree in the US and decided to do the second masters in public policy as it would empower me in policy making in regard keeping interest of employees as I am a professional in Human Resources. It also gives me immense pleasure to pursue a masters degree from a university named after the Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani,” said Jassim Hussain, a student of College of Public Policy at HBKU.
A Master of Information Systems in Health Management and Master of Science in Sport and Entertainment Management (a joint degree with the University of South Carolina) from the College of Science and Engineering.
“Qatar in particular, and the world have witnessed a rapid digitisation of health records and the implementation of digital-based data collection and storage systems leading to major e-health development. Therefore I choose to follow the Master of Information Systems in Health Management programme and contribute to the healthcare development of the country,” said Raghad Muhiyaddin, a student from the College of Science and Engineering.
