To Love or Not to Love Qatar University

          

             I have never had so many mixed feelings towards something in my life as much as I have for Qatar University, my University. Consequently, in my many years here, I have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. Qatar university is great on the outside but the system on the inside needs so much improvement. 

            In the past two years, I have noticed two positive changes. The first is the physical facilities; I can honestly say that I could spend my whole day at the University without complaint. I arrive morning time, have a variety of places to have breakfast from: Starbucks, Costa, Coffee Time or the cafeteria. I then leave for my classes via bus or under the new shades. At the end of the day, when my duties as an attending student are done, I can study and read at the library which has a good flow of service, private cubicles to study in and operating laptops.

             Another feature that I like about Qatar University is that it has started utilizing the help of the students when it comes to difficult issues and jobs such as printing, registering freshmen for classes, academic advising or receiving their books. This is great because it is less intimidating to talk to someone older as a freshman, and I get more information and understand the system rather than sitting in ignorance. I think that the new students should feel lucky, because this wasn’t the case four years ago.

            Speaking of which, the things that I dislike about the University is mostly from the system that they enforce on us as students without taking our opinion. I respect rules and regulations, but I think changing the system every now and then makes it hard to take them seriously.

                      One of the prominent issues is the sudden decision to change the curriculum from English to Arabic. Looking at the fact that the University has conditioned students to study, read, write, argue and think in English, no one should not expect perfect performance in Arabic, because it really is difficult to change your mindset from something you have mastered and are used to. I fear of low grades when I take an Arabic class because of the fact that my Arabic is not strong at all. But sadly, I am forced to push through it.  I suggest that the university give students the choice to study the subject in English or Arabic because it really isn’t fair for someone who is good to be marginalized because of her language skills.

            Another issue is the staff working at the registration building. I can say from experience that some of them do not fully understand their job. This is worrisome because they handle our issues, official papers and have power over our graduation. Last semester, I wanted to study abroad in order to cut my years at Qatar University short. So, the person who was responsible of taking care of my papers for summer courses was uninterested, could not speak English and could not communicate and explain my situation politely to me. 

          

            I can safely say she has suggested that I do all the tiresome and troublesome steps throughout my whole course in hopes of studying in Summer (you can imagine the psychological hell I was living in) only to be informed that all my work is of no use. I have done all my papers, gotten my approval from the American University of Kuwait (I actually went there myself for the papers) And in the end, she bluntly says “you can not take the course because we have changed the system”. These things ultimately discourages the student to be diligent and good, I know that it is the cause of my burn out lately. 

          I suggest that they actually give extensive training sessions on the registering system, hire people who are professional in the workplace (who actually know what they are doing) and most importantly lecture them about the kind of attitude to have when dealing with students. The University should put its students first and not only attend to their physical needs but their mental well being when it comes to important academic issues.

Is Qatar Undergoing a Growth Paradox?

                Stunning skyline, Fast Cars, luxurious lifestyles. In recent years, Qatar’s economy remains the fastest growing out of all the GCC in 2013, as reported by Kanady in 2012 in the Peninsula newspaper.

           Unfortunately, Qatar’s rapid rise in economical and architectural growth cannot be credited to the Qatari citizens alone. That is, Qatar has no other choice but to rely on a large number of migrant workers in order to fulfill its aspirations. This is because Qatar does not have enough human resources to complete their plans in the first place.

Some may argue, that the solution of bringing multi cultural migrant workers from all over the world could possibly deteriorate the Qatari Culture. And this creates a growth paradox. In other words, the solution contradicts with the problem, this is because there is a possible problem within the only solution. Here is a simplified way of looking at it:

[Problem: not enough Qatari Human resources – Solution: Bring Migrant workers…Problem: Migrant workers come with different values and culture…Problem: new cultures could disrupt the Qatari Culture]

            Speaking from a Qatari point of view, the fact that migrant workers out-number Qataris is not a threatening issue. Moreover, I believe that the country is immune to such influences because most Qatari families tend to be traditional extremists in a way. Which means that although there is a modernization movement happening in the country, Qataris will always fall back to their traditions and hold on to their heritage fiercely. A Simple example is that the majority still wear Thoub and Abayah in Qatar, they have not removed it as in Kuwait or Oman.

            I also think that Qatar should not hinder its projects for fear that the Qatari culture will fade because of migrant workers, especially with FIFA 2022 coming up. This urbanization movement has happened before in the renovation of Paris in the 1850’s by the French Civic planner George-Eugene Hausmann; hence they called it the Haussmannization or the urbanization of regulation (McQuire, 2008). In Mcquire’s book The Media City, he has mentioned in the second chapter that although Paris has called for the aid of Morrocan and Algerian migrant workers, their culture is still in tact (2008). Therefore, Qatar should not limit its resources, because it has a right as much as any other country to grow and prosper.

            As for the influx of expats to Qatar, this can be looked as a challenge on housing and transportation. True that Qatar is a small country, but with enough fully-taken-care-of immigrant workers (proper humane housing and finance), it will result in happier, healthier and stronger workers, which then result in faster construction of roads and buildings right in time for FIFA 2022 and other multi-corporate plans of the future. This solution could be a high expectation but it IS attainable. 

Resources:

1. [Book] The Media City: Media, Architecture and Urban Space by Scott McQuire (2008).

This book talks about how media is no longer separate from the city and it illustrates the relationship between public and private space and social life in contemporary societies. I have used information from the second chapter of the book which talks about urbanization of France in the 1850’s using immigrant workers from north Africa and paralleled it to the current situation in Qatar.

2. [Newspaper Article/Peninsula] Qatar to remain fastest growing GCC economy by Satish Kanady (2012). I read this article to look at the ratings of Qatar’s economy in comparison the rest of the GCC and used it in my introduction. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/business/215253-qatar-to-remain-fastest-growing-gcc-economy.html

3. Georges-Eugene Haussmann. He was mentioned in the book and this is some information about him to confirm that he was the French civic planner most responsible for rebuilding paris http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges-Eug%C3%A8ne_Haussmann