Visitors at the 7th edition of Qatar’s International Universities’ Fair 2016.
Doha: Over 5,000 visited the 7th edition of Qatar’s International Universities’ Fair 2016, including students from 70 independent and private schools, a senior official said.
The three-day fair hosted over 90 local and international universities including universities taking part for the first time, said Director of Scholarship at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Ali Al Buainain.
Al Buainain, who yesterday honoured the participants in a closing ceremony, expects that the share of the Education City this year will be the highest, following universities from USA and UK. This year, the fair has diversity because it included universities where students could join on their own expenses. Students who decided to join certain universities could apply for the scholarship in January 2017, he stressed.
“We are happy to receive your suggestions and opinions about the fair and your input for its improvement in the future will be highly appreciated”, said Hanan Alsaadi, Project Director, Academic Institutions Licensing Expert, Chairwoman of the organising committee, addressing audience during the closing ceremony.
“The arrangements this year by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has been very good because a lot of students are visiting in the morning session. In the evening, we are becoming very busy with the parents accompanying their children and looking for admission in US universities,” said Nihad Lawson, Student Advisor, Public Affairs Section, Embassy of the United States of America.
“We appreciate the fact that the ministry has put much effort in inviting all schools to attend these sessions. The invitation is more open and not limited to certain type of schools so you get variety of students coming from private and independent schools. That is good for the universities who want to see the biggest number of students.”
Qatari students are very interested in US universities and it is one of their first options. It depends on the families who get variety in US which has over 4,000 universities, Lawson told this daily.
Rika Grape Yamagata, Public Relation, Cultural Affairs at Embassy of Japan, Doha told The Peninsula that there are more than 700 universities in Japan, but most of the students here are looking for English medium universities and that’s why they recommend 13 prestigious universities offering degree programmes conducted in English.
In order to encourage Qatari students to join Japanese universities, we provide them with necessary advice and handout like Student Guide to Japan 2016/17, said Yamagata.
She added: “We actually offer every year one governmental scholarship but students who join this scholarship need to learn Japanese language for not less than two years.” There is one Japanese school in Doha which is attracting different nationalities and it is a chance for Qatari students to join, she said. As well, we have speech contest every year and there are Qatari participants, specially from Qatar University who are studying Japanese and become fluent in the language, Yamagata said.
Asked about student’s preferences, Muna Al buainain, Specialist of Government’s Scholarship at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs said majority of the students like to learn abroad although the fields are available here in Qatar because their ambitions are very high .
“Only Sabanci University is participating in this fair, and its courses are in English. Still, we have one Qatari student. There are around 200 universities in Turkey and many of them teach in English and they are looking to get international students, Selin Aycil, from International Relations Office told The Peninsula.
