Around 800 applications were received for Qatar University’s special Arabic programme for non-native speakers last year, out of which only 50 were given admissions, a senior QU official said.
The statistics were revealed at a press conference on Sept 11, where the conversion of the Arabic for Non-Native Speakers (ANNS) programme to a dedicated centre at Qatar University’s College of Arts and Sciences was discussed in detail by the CAS Dean Dr Eiman Mustafawi and the Centre’s director Dr Abdullah Abdulrahman.
Dr Mustafawi detailed the centre’s history as a unit established within the College’s Department of Arabic Language in 1987, to its expansion to an independent programme in 2006.
She said, “QU recognised that as the national university, it had a responsibility to advance the language, culture, history and traditions of the Qatari, Arab and Islamic people and communities and to share it with people from around the world to further a better understanding and to build bridges of communication.”
In establishing the programme as a centre, the college is building on its continuing development and its vision towards quality and excellence in all its offerings, Dr Mustafawi said.
She noted that from its inception, the programme had grown considerably in the number of students and applicants from every corner of the world.
“The programme started with 20 students, and last year, we admitted 50 students,” she said, adding “800 applications were received this year, but the programme can only accommodate 55 students, so we have become very selective”.
Dr Abdulrahman highlighted the centre’s mission to provide high quality education in the field of Arabic language to non-native speakers of different national and religious backgrounds.
He went on to explain that the programme offers three tracks: morning, evening (continuing education) and distance education.
“The morning track is the backbone of the centre; it offers courses at six levels each year and focuses intensively on basic language skills; the evening track offers general and tailored courses for the diplomatic, health, business and other sectors and the distance education track is designed to meet the needs of international students, who wish to study Arabic language but are not on-site in Qatar,” he said.
