Education City

Building of Texas A & M University at Qatar in Education City

Another building

Education City ( German Bildungsstadt , Arabic المدينة التعليمية, DMG al-Madīna at-taʿlīmiyya ) is a newly built district on the outskirts of Doha , the capital of Qatar . The city quarter was designed according to plans by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki . It is home to the offshoots of several American and other Western universities. The project is financed by the Qatar Foundation with investments of billions from oil and gas production and is considered the legacy of the wife of the sheikh, who ruled until 2013, Musa bint Nasser al-Missned .

Facility

The previously rather low social status of education in Qatar is to be raised by the Education City and to stop or reverse the migration of talent from the Middle East . For this purpose, facilities from early childhood to postgraduate education are available, which are open to interested parties of all nationalities and for both genders. In addition to the countries of the Middle East, the 2000 students in the 2006/07 academic year came from 45 countries, including India, Pakistan, Bosnia, the United States, New Zealand and South Africa. They should build a bridge between the different cultures, as Musa bint Nasser describes her goal: “We believe in the urgency of meeting other civilizations, but not in melting into them. And we believe in the power of education to guide us toward this goal. ”About half of the 2013 graduates came from the country itself.

The individual universities have full decision-making authority over their curricula, staff and admissions. The application process is even more egalitarian than in the United States, because here the focus is solely on performance instead of observing other traditions and obligations. After admission, the Qatar Foundation grants interest-free loans based on the student's financial situation, which are reduced by ten percent for each year that the graduates continue to work in Qatar.

The Education City is located in the urban area of ar-Rayyan in the western periphery of the capital Doha and covers around 2500 acres or 14 km² of floor space. Here is the location of the new building of the National Library of Qatar , which is under construction and designed by Rem Koolhaas . Other Education City facilities include the Doha Debates , which are free monthly political issues and broadcast on BBC World , and the Al Jazeera children's channel . In 2011 the Arab Museum of Modern Art was opened here in a converted former school. Until probably mid-2016, the district receives a low floor - tram from avenio .