Texas A&M to Open Branch Campus in Qatar

COLLEGE STATION, Texas

Texas A&M University will open a branch campus in Qatar specializing in engineering education and research this fall, the university announced last month.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity for Texas A&M to expand its international presence and to provide educational and research opportunities for our faculty and students," university president Dr. Robert Gates says. "It will foster greater understanding among future leaders in the Middle East and the U.S."

A&M is working with the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development to establish the campus alongside two other institutions with branches in Qatar, Virginia's Commonwealth University and the Weill Cornell Medical College. The nonprofit foundation was founded in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, to support education reform and provide community development.

Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Consort of the Emir and chairwoman of the foundation, said the organization's goal is to build upon its human resources to provide for sustainable development, and "education, research, community development and cooperative international alliances are the tools of this building process."

The Qatar campus will offer undergraduate degree programs in petroleum, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering. Two interdisciplinary research centers also will be established to address production and utilization of natural resources and environmental sustainability.

The Qatar campus is expected to enroll 50 students a year in its first five years. Classes will be open to men and women, and will be taught in English.

"Vigorous academic standards will apply to the Qatar campus," says Dr. David Prior, A&M executive vice president and provost.