Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Qatar

peer reviewedThe tertiary education sector in Qatar has grown very rapidly, viewed as key to national development on the path to the “knowledge society,” also to reduce its reliance on limited natural resources. The states of the Islamic world, with a significant but long-obscured past of scientific achievement, are witnessing a contemporary renaissance. The establishment of international offshore, satellite or branch campuses in the Persian or Arabian Gulf region emphasizes the dynamism of higher education development. With a history of several decades, Qatar’s higher education and science policies join contrasting strategies prevalent in capacity building attempts worldwide – to emulate the strongest global exemplars through importation as well as to cultivate local, indigenous assets. Thus, university-related and science policymaking on the peninsula has been designed to directly connect with global developments while building local capacity in higher education and scientific productivitySPHER