Building the Future: Inside Qatar Foundation's Vision for Education and Innovation

You’re listening to the World of Higher Education podcast, season 3, episode 4.
Alex Usher: Hi everyone. I'm Alex Usher, and this is the World of Higher Education podcast.
Change of plan today. I was supposed to be interviewing Mary C. Wright about her new book on Centres for Teaching and Learning. However, a scheduling issue arose, so we took the show on the road, around the world, to a place that maybe doesn't get discussed enough. The city of Doha in Qatar.
Thirty years ago, the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his wife, Sheikha Moza, created the Qatar Foundation. Among the Foundation's most important goals was to lift the level of higher education provision in Qatar, though the country already had a university, the eponymous Qatar University, it was a bit of a backwater. What the foundation wanted to do was to leapfrog the rest of the region. And the way they chose to do it was quite unique. Not for them was the tried path of letting foreign universities come in and set up their own low cost provision teams. Instead, they built an Education City, in which top universities from different parts of the world were paid to open faculties in their areas of greatest strength. So, a Cornell for Medicine, a Virginia Commonwealth for Visual Arts, a Georgetown for the School of Foreign Service. And the foundation carefully managed these partnerships so that the staff at the Doha branch would be equal in status to the staff at the home campus in the United States. Now, education city was mostly American, Canadian institutions did play a role in the country too. The university of Calgary still operates a nursing school on behalf of the government of Qatar and the college of the North Atlantic operated a campus in Doha on a similar basis until about four years ago, at which point the institution reverted to Qatari control and it is now a University of Science and Technology.
Now, as the foundation approaches its 30th birthday, it seemed like a good time for us to take stock of how this experiment is going. And so with us today is Francisco Marmolejo, former World Bank Lead of Tertiary Higher Education, and currently the Qatar Foundation's President of Higher Education. He and I chat about the history of the foundation, what it's achieved for the country and how it's expected to contribute to the country's future. I thought it was a fun talk. I hope you do too. Over to Francisco.
Alex Usher (AU): So Francisco, I'd like to go back to the beginning, which is almost 30 years ago now. It's been a long time, actually. So the royal family of Qatar starts, creates the Qatar foundation in 1995. What was it specifically about the mid nineties that made the royal family want to invest in education?
Francisco Marmolejo (FM): Well, Alex, I think uh, you know, something interesting to keep in consideration is that Qatar is a country younger than me. And about 25 years ago uh, as being a much younger country, Qatar had a very clear understanding that the, you know, the leadership of the country that it was a significant need to have the adequate talent and and also the mechanism to prepare people for the needs of the future. And they had two options. One was just to send lots of people abroad. The other was to further develop the only university that existed in the country at that time. And, or to tie, to try to leapfrog and then to bring to the country, you know, among the best universities in the world connected to the priorities of development of the country, and then to have them as partners in the capacity building of the human talent needed for sort of the needs of a society that at that time decided to transition into a knowledge based economy and society.
So that was basically the rationale of the leadership of the country in establishing Qatar Foundation for education, research and community development. And I mentioned this because for Qatar Foundation, it is very clear that education by itself is not enough. That in order for a society and that applies any place on earth, in order for a society to really advance, it is important, of course, to support education, but that should be paired with relevant research, and of course, being grounded on the needs of the community. That's why the community development is part of the vision that remains very valid for Qatar Foundation.
AU: So I guess there were a lot of countries in the late 90s and early 2000s that got into transnational higher education, a lot of you know, overseas campuses being built. But what happened in Doha was quite different, wasn't it? This was the government inviting in specific institutions, mainly American, I guess, exclusively American ones until about 2010, and asking them to create one faculty. So Georgetown gets the faculty for international relations and diplomacy and Cornell Vail gets the medical faculty and I guess Texas A& M the engineering faculty that was very, very unique at the time. And I think the foundation spent a lot of money bringing those institutions over. How has that turned out? I mean, my impression is, is that over the last five or 10 years what's happened is that the foundation is less keen on expansion and more keen on trying to get more out of the partnerships that already has. Is that a fair assessment?
FM: It is a fair assessment. I think many of the branch campuses that is part of the transnational higher education movement that you described, it was exactly the opposite. They were, you know, creative, entrepreneurial universities. looking for where to establish a a branch campus. Here, it was exactly the opposite. The leadership of the country, especially Shea Hamosa you know, inspired by the major guiding document of the country, which is Qatar National Vision 2030 identified those which was, which were the areas for development of the country for which again, the human talent was needed. And it was, you know, engineering, medicine, international relations, et cetera. And that's when this review of potential partners was made and also to identify those institutions who were willing to be part of this adventure, I might say. Now over the years, as you properly indicate, once we have all these universities here, there has been a clear intention to, first of all, figuring out how to have those institutions that usually compete with each other outside in the United States, the UK or France, how do we, you know, push them to change to shift the chip if you want, and then to collaborate in order to compete. So that has been the whole idea of establishing this ecosystem as a multiversity ecosystem.
And secondly, the second point that you mentioned, how do we collaborate with the home campuses of those universities beyond the specific faculty for which that university is here? Let's say for instance, right now with Georgetown University, which is the school of foreign services in Washington, DC, we are working in an expansion of the collaboration with them in areas related to the environment, in areas related to health, in areas related to to sustainability. So it is an interesting mix of maximizing the capacity of the institutions by expanding this, the nature of this partnership.
AU: Interesting. Who attends these institutions in education city? So, you know, cause sometimes these campuses are sort of showpieces for the country, right? They can be, you know, they are meant to attract talent from around the region. But sometimes they're meant to, you know, real lift the, as you say, the sort of the human capital of Qataris themselves. What's the mix at most of those colleges?
FM: You know, in general, let me give you a general sense of it. About 50 percent of our students are Qatari students, about 25 percent of our enrollment is made up of members of the expat community living in Qatar. So long term residents that have made it life you know, for them in Qatar. And about the remaining 25 percent are the true international students coming to Qatar just for the purpose of you know, attending higher education here in the country. About 70 percent of our enrollment is female enrollment, about 30 percent is male enrollment. About 65 percent of our enrollment is undergraduate education, and the rest is a graduate education. So that's more or less the mix of our, you know, student body here at Qatar foundation.
I think it is important to keep in mind Alex and then for the audience that Qatar is a country in which about 85 percent of the population is made up of people who are not from Qatar. Only 15 percent of the population is the Qatari population. So it's a truly international community. People from all over the world who had decided to make a life uh, to make a life here in in Qatar.
AU: And so it does have, and so, yes, it's very much has a domestic mission, but there is also some of that soft power and attracting people to Qatar as well. Is, Is the assumption that young people would come to Qatar and stay?
FM: Well, you know, it's the desire of the country is for them to become and that's for us very clear at Qatar foundation for that to become, you know, a highly competitive, but also highly connected and committed to the community individuals. That's the kind of graduates that we want to have at Qatar Foundation. Of course, the expectation is that they will become those type of individuals in whatever place they are. But, specifically in the case of the students coming from other countries, the invitation of the country for them to stay is there. And in fact, some of the mechanisms that we have in place are aimed at that. Let me give you one example. Students who need a financial aid, the type of financial aid they receive is basically a support, you know, in terms of a loan. That is income contingency loan, 0 percent interest rate, long term payment. But if you decide to stay in the country per year of staying and working in the country, 25 percent of your loan is being canceled. So literally in four years, a graduate of our institutions who had a loan, it will have a, you know, a a free ride, I might say.
AU: Interesting. Interesting. Now you mentioned a second ago that there was, prior to this, there was a domestic university, Qatar university.
FM: Ya, Qatar university, our national university. Yes.
AU: And so, I mean, you could have interpreted, you know, bringing in all these foreign institutions as a vote of no confidence in Qatar University, but the impression I've always had is that this is a, there's meant to be feedback between Qatar University and these institutions. It's meant to be one where there's a sort of long term, transfer of knowledge about how to run a higher, you know, a top higher education system. How's the foundation been able to use these foreign education providers to boost Qatar university.
FM: Well, in many ways. And I think now, because, the university, Qatar University, has fully developed, and now it is a research oriented, comprehensive university. I think it happens in both ways. Yeah, so we benefit from the role of Qatar University. Again, going back in time, Alex, 25 years ago, the only university in the country is Qatar University. At that time, Qatar University was much more kind of a normal school. The main uh, program was education, and basically was preparing teachers for the schools. And again, 25 years ago, the country needed, quick advance in both education, but also in research on a variety of areas that at that time Qatar University was unable to provide. So that's one of the reasons why this idea of bringing institutions together and supporting that type of capacity building was made. And of course, over the years, there has been this parallel development of Qatar University, which now it is a great institution, it's our national university, and we have all those synergies happening back and forth.
Sometimes, of course, some duplication, you know, we should recognize that, but there is a common understanding that at the end of the day, both Qatar University, the universities at Qatar Foundation, even our own university, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and also the recently evolved a college of the North Atlantic that now is the Doha University of Science and Technology, we see ourselves as part of a true system that complements each other. And of course, is aimed at providing the best possible education to those you know, students from Qatar and also from the region and the rest of the world.
AU: We're going to take a short break, we'll be right back.
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AU: And we're back. So, Francisco, you just mentioned Hamid bin Khalifa university or HBKU. And that was where I wanted to turn next actually, because this is, you know, originally there was a thought about how do we use these foreign providers to help Qatar University. And then about 15 years ago, I guess, there's a decision to set up HBKU, which is a second domestic university directly under the foundation which Qatar University is not. And it's a research focused, it's graduate student focused. And I guess it's a natural progression ¬¬¬from these foreign experiments? How's it doing these days? I mean, what are the challenges and what are the successes?
FM: Well, I think first of all, there is this complementarity between the undergraduate and the graduate education. And in Qatar foundation, we have not only that, but also we go back to the previous levels of education, Alex, because in Qatar foundation, as part of our ecosystem of more than 50 different organizations, 22 of them are educational institutions from kindergarten up to now doctoral education with with HBKU. So, of course, there are a number of initiatives in which we work together. You know, let me give you there is a new graduate program being offered by an institution. The condition is that it should be a collaboration between that program and HBKU's program and vice versa. There are joint appointments. There are joint academic programs. There is a system that we have at Qatar Foundation known as cross registration that permits students to take courses from any of the other universities without any additional hurdles or complications. And a number of students from HBKU, even though they are you know, students in some disciplines that complement with our institutions also benefit from that sort of cross registration between the different academic programs. So, of course, there is a significant room for improvement. I'm not trying to describe to you a perfect world, but there is no doubt that having this ecosystem again, our multiversity as we refer to, give us the opportunity to experiment and to innovate and to do things that usually I might say or most of the time it is just impossible to do in other places.
AU: Yeah, I can imagine that. Tell me how has the Qatar foundation's position within the state of Qatar changed over time? So this was originally a project of the uh,
FM: Sheikha, yeah, Sheikha Moza and the father Emir, which no longer is
AU: So he's no, it's his son who is now the Emir and has been, I guess, since 2013 or so. And it's not just that you've had a change in government, there've been a lot of things that have happened in Qatar, which have taken people's attention. There was a there was a blockade, a Saudi led blockade of Qatar. And that was obviously must've been very worrying, taking up a lot of government time. There was also holding the world cup, which was an enormous undertaking. But now all that's gone. The blockade's over, and the World Cup's over. Does Education City now move closer to the center of the stage again, or no?
FM: Education city, you know, and Qatar foundation, even though, it's it's you know, maybe seen as a government entity, it is not. It is a private foundation, of course, supported by the government and by other private organizations and of course, families, including, of course, the Royal Family. The chairperson of Qatar Foundation is, and continue being, and very actively engaged Her Highness Sheikha Moza. And it's a very close connection, I might say, you know, part of my day to day life has to do with, of course, working with the leadership of the universities in order to maximize the opportunities for collaboration, but also interacting with all government entities as we coordinate efforts. There are many activities we do that then are being sort of made available and then taken by government to do things and vice versa. Let me give you one example. We put together this national strategy, which is called Study in Qatar. Similar to study in Canada and study in other countries. So the study in Qatar is an initiative that started at Qatar foundation and then was presented to the government. And now the government is now leading the effort and is bringing together all the universities in the country. Similar with the accreditation system that didn't exist in the country. Similar with initiatives such as EarthNA, which is the think tank that is working on issues related to environment. So there is a very, you know, Qatar is a small country and there is a lot of you know, I might say interesting synergies between Qatar entities, government entities, of course, the business sector, and certainly organizations such as Qatar foundation. Again, that's one of the reasons why I find so exciting to work in this place because again, we can do things in Qatar that probably in other contexts could be a little bit difficult to do.
AU: I mean, the explicit goal of, higher education in Qatar was to help the country become post carbon, if I can put it that way, like, like a lot of, projects in the Gulf, it's about trying to invest in a human resource, a human capital economy. So that there's something there when the oil, or in Qatar's case, the natural gas disappears.
It's one of those things that's hard to measure, right? Because the oil's still there, the natural gas is still there. That's still overwhelmingly the main form of income for the country. So do people ever look at this and say gosh, that we haven't become as post carbon as we thought we would. We're, this isn't a success, it's still too dependent on government money. I mean, is it seen as a success within Qatar or do people worry about those kinds of things?
FM: No, I think there is a clear recognition about the need to diversify. No question about it. Certainly still today, you know, it's the economy is highly dependent on that. But there has been a significant diversification of that. Just to give an idea in terms of clean energy is I'm aware of the fact that the country's investing a lot in in solar energy and a, you know, one of the expectations is that the national consumption of electricity will come from a solar energy in the, I believe by 2030 or something like that. So there is a clear intention of diversifying the economy. The blockade was an interesting phenomenon because It basically serves as a wake up call to the country in terms of reducing, for instance, dependency from abroad in terms of food production. Now there is a significant growth in food production in the country. And some very interesting stories that you know, it's in, it's worth it to, to to take a look into that, including milk production, for instance, now Qatar is exporting milk, believe it or not, to other countries. So I think it is an interesting development of the country. Of course, there is the clear understanding about the need to diversify economy and society. In fact, in just this year, there was a strategic document being released by government after extensive consultation with all sectors, including education, in identifying some clusters of priorities for the country for which Qatar wants to again foster this type of diversification. And one of them is Believe it or not, it's education.
AU: Interesting. So it's been 30 years since the foundation was created, or I guess it'd be the 30th anniversary next year. I want to push you a little bit and say, so what's it going to look like 30 years from now? What will Qatar look like in 2054, 2055? And to what extent will its shape be the legacy of the foundation? Well, and will the foundation still exist or will the need for it have dissipated?
FM: You know, I truly believe that Alex you know, that the future is not something that we can guess or extrapolate. It's something we build. And and that's what I see here at Qatar Foundation, to be honest with you. There is a clear effort in precisely building the Qatar foundation of the future. And and that means what do we need to do today or what we need to stop doing today or doing differently today in order to make sure that ambition future of is going to be is going to become a reality. And, Qatar foundation as such in, my, my sort of forecasting, if you want, is that Qatar foundation will solidify its position as the enabler of innovation and disruption in the country. That's the first thing that I believe it is going to be further being developed over the years. The partner universities, interestingly, I have seen an interesting transition of those universities. You know, some of them at a certain point decide this collaboration is not a priority anymore for us. That's it. Others decide to do an interesting transition into becoming more local institutions, even though being at the same time a global institution. And this is happening just because this type of thing. Think about this, you know, the alumni from our partner universities, some of them graduated 15 years ago. So those are individuals that today are in the peak of their productive life, they are the individuals that are contributing to the development of the society. So there is this you know, interface that is happening gradually between a, what is used to be a foreign university into becoming much more a local institution with a global dimension. So I think all of those interactions between institutions are going to be transitioning over the time. There is a clear sort of, principle of operation at Qatar Foundation that not all the institutions that are part of the umbrella of Qatar Foundation are meant to be here all the time. There is even a formal process that Qatar Foundation does to review many of its entities and to graduate some of those entities. And so there is a very clear intention that when an initiative is being established here, there is a time for that initiative, and then there is a process of transition of that institution to become independent or to disappear or to modify into something else. So that clear intention of making of this space, a space of disruption and innovation at the same time, is what it makes, you know, honestly a Qatar Foundation and its Education City, a very unique model that I don't see in any other place you know, in in other countries.
AU: Francisco Marmolejo, thank you so much for being with us today.
FM: My pleasure, Alex.
AU: And it just remains for me to thank our excellent producers, Tiffany McLennan and Sam Pufek, and you, our listeners and readers for joining us. If you have any comments or questions about today's podcast, please get in touch with us at podcast@higheredstrategy.com. And please do head over to our YouTube page and subscribe. You never want to miss an episode of the World of Higher Education. Join us next week when our guest will actually be Mary C. Wright, and we'll be talking about her new book centers of teaching and learning. Bye for now.