Carnegie Mellon celebrates decade of world-class education in Qatar

DOHA, Qatar, March 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its branch campus in Qatar this week. To mark this significant milestone, the university will be welcoming a number of distinguished international guests to its official anniversary ceremony on Tuesday, March 18.

Key leadership from Carnegie Mellon and Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development will gather at the university's campus in Education City, alongside alumni, students, faculty and staff. The celebrations will highlight key achievements from a successful decade in Qatar and renew the university's pledge to shape the country's future through nurturing the next generation of young leaders.

Carnegie Mellon Qatar joined Education City in 2004 and began teaching 41 students in two academic programs. Today, it offers five top programs to 400 students from 42 countries in a truly multi-cultural environment.

Subra Suresh, president of Carnegie Mellon University, and other senior leaders from the Pittsburgh campus spoke about the campus' achievements at an official press conference held on March 16: "This campus has created living connections among faculty, students, and graduates across Carnegie Mellon's global network, sharing research projects, classes, and outreach activities. The students and faculty have embraced Carnegie Mellon's interdisciplinary collaborative approach to problem solving, and they have enriched our entire university with new ideas, new ways of thinking, and an obvious passion for learning," Suresh said.

To date, almost 300 young men and women have graduated from the university. However, as Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, noted, success must be measured by more than numbers. "We must not only educate and graduate students, we must also create the next generation of researchers, entrepreneurs, leaders and problem solvers," he said.

Mark Kamlet, provost and executive vice president of Carnegie Mellon University said: "Carnegie Mellon Qatar graduates are highly sought after. More than 90 percent of the university's alumni are either in graduate programs or employed in top organizations such as HSBC, Google, Microsoft, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Shell and Sidra Medical and Research Center amongst others."

"When CMU-Q students and graduates compete on the international level, they come out on top. Thanks to Carnegie Mellon, Qatar now boasts four Google Anita Borg scholars. This is just one example of our success," Kamlet said.

The partnership between Qatar Foundation and Carnegie Mellon Qatar continues to thrive. The university's goals as a global higher education and research institution align closely with the vision and mission of QF.

Engineer Saad Al Muhannadi, president of Qatar Foundation, said: "The dream of Qatar Foundation was to build a center of academic and research excellence for the country and the world, to build bridges across continents and cultures, bringing internationally established teaching and research institutions to our front door.

"As the foundations for the Carnegie Mellon facility were being laid in Qatar more than a decade ago, we turned this dream into a reality, brick by brick. Through hard work, dedication and the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, our partnership with Carnegie Mellon Qatar has yielded great results and has grown from strength to strength.

The official ceremony to mark Carnegie Mellon Qatar's 10-year anniversary will take place at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar on March 18 and will include live music, videos and speeches. To watch a live stream of the celebration, click here.

To learn more about Carnegie Mellon Qatar's 10-year anniversary, visit www.qatar.cmu.edu/10, and engage with us on:

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About Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

As a global leader in education, Carnegie Mellon University is known for its creativity, collaboration across disciplines, and top programs in business, technology and the arts. The university has been home to some of the world's most important thinkers, among them 19 Nobel Laureates and 11 Turing Award winners.

In 2004, Qatar Foundation invited Carnegie Mellon to join Education City, a groundbreaking center for scholarship and research. As Carnegie Mellon Qatar celebrates its 10th anniversary, the campus continues to grow, providing a prestigious education to 400 students from 42 countries. The university offers five undergraduate degree programs in Biological Sciences, Business Administration, Computational Biology, Computer Science and Information Systems.

Students in Qatar join more than 12,000 Carnegie Mellon students across the globe, who will become the next generation of leaders tackling tomorrow's challenges. The university's 95,000 alumni are recruited by some of the world's most innovative organizations.

To learn more, visit www.qatar.cmu.edu and follow us on twitter @CarnegieMellonQ

Qatar Foundation – Unlocking Human Potential

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF) is a private, non-profit organization that is supporting Qatar on its journey from carbon economy to knowledge economy by unlocking human potential, for the benefit of not only Qatar, but the world.  Founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Emir, QF is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. 

QF's work encompasses education, research and community development.  World-class universities are brought to Qatar to help create an education sector in which young people can develop the attitudes and skills required for a knowledge economy. At the same time, QF builds Qatar's innovation and technology capacity by developing and commercializing solutions through key sciences.  The Foundation also works to foster a progressive society while enhancing cultural life, protecting Qatar's heritage and addressing immediate social needs in the community.

For a complete list of QF's initiatives and projects, visit http://www.qf.org.qa

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