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.

---

The World of Higher Education Podcast
Episode 3.4 | Building the Future: Inside Qatar Foundation’s Vision for Education and Innovation

Transcript

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. The royal family of Qatar starts the Qatar Foundation in 1995. What was it about the mid-nineties that made the royal family want to invest in education in Qatar?

Francisco Marmolejo (FM): Well, Alex, something interesting to consider is that Qatar is a country younger than me. About 25 years ago, being a much younger country, Qatar’s leadership had a clear understanding of the significant need for talent and the mechanisms to prepare people for the future. They had two options: one was to send many people abroad, and the other was to develop the only university that existed at the time further. Or, they could leapfrog and bring some of the best universities in the world to Qatar, connected to the country’s development priorities, and partner with them to build the human talent needed for a society transitioning into a knowledge-based economy. That was essentially the rationale behind establishing the Qatar Foundation for education, research, and community development. I mention this because for Qatar Foundation, it’s clear that education alone is not enough. In order for a society to truly advance, education must be paired with relevant research and grounded in community needs. That’s why community development remains a key part of the foundation’s vision.

AU: A lot of countries in the late 90s and early 2000s got into transnational higher education, with overseas campuses being built. But what happened in Doha was different, wasn’t it? The government invited specific institutions, mostly American ones until 2010, and asked them to create just one faculty. For example, Georgetown was tasked with international relations, Cornell Weill with medical studies, and Texas A&M with engineering. That was very unique at the time. I also understand the foundation spent a lot of money bringing those institutions over. How has that turned out? It seems that over the last five or ten years, the foundation has been more focused on maximizing the existing partnerships rather than expanding further. Is that a fair assessment?

FM: Yes, that’s a fair assessment. In contrast to the broader transnational higher education movement, where entrepreneurial universities sought to establish branch campuses, Qatar’s approach was the opposite. The country’s leadership, especially Sheikha Moza, guided by the country’s major guiding document for the country, Qatar National Vision 2030, identified key areas for the country’s development, such as engineering, medicine, and international relations, where human talent was needed. They then selected institutions willing to be part of this ambitious project.

As you mentioned, the focus has shifted to figuring out how these institutions, which often compete with each other in the United States, the UK or France, can collaborate here to create a multiversity ecosystem. We’re also working on expanding the collaboration beyond just the specific faculties these universities were initially brought in for with the whole host universities. For example, we’re now partnering with Georgetown University, who hosts the school of foreign services, on projects related to the environment, health, and sustainability.

AU: Interesting. Who attends these institutions in Education City? Sometimes campuses like these are showpieces for a country, meant to attract talent from the region. Other times, they aim to uplift the human capital of the country itself. What’s the student mix at these colleges?

FM: In general, about 50% of our students are Qatari, and about 25% are members of the expat community living in Qatar—long-term residents who have made Qatar their home. The remaining 25% are international students who come to Qatar specifically for higher education in the country. Around 70% of our enrollment is female, and 30% is male. Additionally, 65% of our students are in undergraduate programs, with the rest in graduate programs. That is more or less the mix of our student population. But, it’s important to keep in mind for your audience that 85% of Qatar’s population is made up of non-Qataris, while only 15% are Qatari. So, it’s a truly international community.

AU: While it has a domestic mission, there’s also some soft power involved, attracting people to Qatar. Is the idea that students who come to Qatar will stay after they graduate?

FM: The country hopes so, and Qatar Foundation is clear on its desire to produce highly competitive, connected, and community-committed graduates. The expectation is that these individuals will contribute to society, whether in Qatar or elsewhere. For international students, the invitation to stay is there. In fact, we have mechanisms to encourage this. For example, students receiving financial aid get an income-contingent loan with 0% interest. If they choose to stay and work in Qatar, 25% of their loan is canceled for each year they stay. So, in four years, they can effectively have a free ride.

AU: Interesting. You mentioned earlier that Qatar already had a domestic university—Qatar University. Some might have seen the move to bring in foreign institutions as a vote of no confidence in Qatar University. But from what I understand, the idea was to create a feedback loop between these institutions and Qatar University. How has Qatar Foundation used these foreign universities to boost Qatar University?

FM: In many ways. Today, Qatar University is a fully developed, research-oriented comprehensive university. But 25 years ago, it was more of a normal school, primarily focused on education and preparing teachers. At that time, Qatar needed rapid progress in education and research, which Qatar University couldn’t provide alone. That’s why bringing in foreign institutions for capacity-building made sense. Over time, Qatar University has grown and now it is a great institution, and we now see synergies between it and the universities at Qatar Foundation, as well as with our own Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and Doha University of Science and Technology. There’s some duplication, but overall, we see ourselves as part of a true system that compliments each other.

AU: Francisco, you mentioned Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), which I wanted to discuss next. Initially, foreign institutions were meant to support Qatar University, but about 15 years ago, HBKU was established as a second domestic university under Qatar Foundation, with a focus on research and graduate education and I guess it is a natural progression from these foreign experiments. How is HBKU doing, and what are its challenges and successes?

FM: There’s a clear complementarity between undergraduate and graduate education at Qatar Foundation. Beyond that, our ecosystem includes over 50 organizations with 22 of them being education from kindergarten to doctoral programs, so we work collaboratively at all levels. For example, new graduate programs offered by foreign institutions often require collaboration with HBKU. We also have joint appointments, joint academic programs, and a cross-registration system that allows students to take courses at other universities within Education City without complications. Of course, there’s room for improvement, I’m not trying to describe to you a perfect work, but this multiversity model allows for innovation and experimentation that would be difficult elsewhere.

AU: I can imagine that. How has Qatar Foundation’s position within the state evolved over time? Initially, this was a project of Sheikha Moza and the former Emir, but there’s been a change in leadership, and other events like the Saudi-led blockade and the World Cup have also drawn attention. With those challenges behind, does Education City now move closer to the center stage?

FM: Education City and Qatar Foundation, while closely tied to the government, are actually private entities, albeit supported by the government and private organizations, including the royal family. Sheikha Moza remains actively involved as chairperson and is very actively engaged with Qatar Foundation. My day-to-day involves collaborating with university leaders and coordinating with government entities. For example, the “Study in Qatar” initiative began at Qatar Foundation but was later taken up by the government who now leads the effort and brings together all of the universities. This also happened with the quality assurance framework for the country. We also work on initiatives like Earthna, a think tank focused on environmental issues. Qatar is a small country, and there are many synergies between different sectors. This allows us to innovate in ways that might be difficult in other contexts and that is why I find it so exciting to work in this place.

AU: The explicit goal of higher education in Qatar was to help the country transition to a post-carbon economy. But oil and gas still dominate. That is hard to measure, right? Especially when the oil is still there and the natural gas is still there, and both of these are still the main source of income for the country. Do people ever worry that the country hasn’t become as post-carbon as hoped, or that it’s still too dependent on government money?

FM: There’s certainly a recognition of the need to diversify the economy, and progress has been made. For instance, Qatar is investing heavily in solar energy, with plans for the national electricity consumption to come from solar by 2030. The blockade also served as a wake-up call, leading to increased domestic production, including food. Believe it or not, Qatar is now exporting milk to other countries! There’s still a long way to go, but the country has made significant strides toward diversification, and in the most recent strategic government released by the document identifying key areas for diversification for the country, education is one of the priority areas.

AU: It’s been nearly 30 years since the foundation was created. What do you think Qatar and Qatar Foundation will look like in 30 more years? Will the foundation still be needed, or will its role have changed?

FM: You know, Alex, I truly believe that the future is not something we can just guess or extrapolate—it’s something we build. And that’s exactly what I see happening here at Qatar Foundation. There is a clear effort to build the Qatar Foundation of the future. This means thinking about what we need to do today, what we need to stop doing, and what we need to do differently to make sure that our ambitious vision becomes a reality. In my view, Qatar Foundation will continue to solidify its position as an enabler of innovation and disruption in the country.

One of the interesting things I’ve observed over the years is the transition of our partner universities. Some of them, at a certain point, decide that the collaboration is no longer a priority for them, and they move on. Others, however, undergo an interesting transformation, becoming more local institutions while still maintaining their global identity.

Think about it this way: some of the alumni from our partner universities graduated 15 years ago, and today they are in the peak of their productive lives, contributing significantly to society. So, there is this gradual shift happening, where what started as foreign universities are now evolving into more localized institutions with a global dimension.

All of these interactions between institutions are continuously evolving. There’s a principle at Qatar Foundation that not all entities under its umbrella are meant to be here forever. In fact, we have a formal process where we periodically review entities and “graduate” some of them. This means transitioning them to become independent, disappear, or evolve into something else.

This intentional approach of making Qatar Foundation—and Education City—a space for both disruption and innovation is what makes it such a unique model. It’s something I don’t see replicated in many other places around the world.

AU: Francisco Marmolejo, thank you so much for being with us today.

FM: My pleasure, Alex.

AU: Great. And it just remains for me to thank our excellent producers, Tiffany MacLennan 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 head over to our YouTube page and subscribe so you never miss an episode of The World of Higher Education. Join us next week when our guest will be Mary C. Wright, and we’ll discuss her new book, Centers of Teaching and Learning. Bye for now.

*This podcast transcript was generated using an AI transcription service with limited editing. Please forgive any errors made through this service.