The University College London Qatar (UCL Qatar) has launched two new programmes, a senior official said.
The application process is open, Professor Thilo Rehren, Director of UCL Qatar, said in a statement.
These programmes are aimed at enabling local and regional students to gain masters qualifications in important fields.
The MA in Library and Information Studies qualifies students for careers in leading professional roles within the library and information services sector, a field which is rapidly growing in Qatar.
The MA has been set up in close collaboration with Hamad Bin Khalifa University to provide a course that is academically identical to the equivalent programme offered in London, with particular focus on library and information management, collection building, cataloguing and classification.
It also includes the necessary additional focus on Qatar and the regional context in which students will operate as professionals.
The second programme, Diploma in Academic Research and Methods (DARM), is a six-month pre-master’s preparation course at UCL Qatar that prepares students for progression on to Master’s level study. It is suitable for candidates who seek to improve their research and studying techniques, as well as their academic English skills. Both courses will enrol their first students in October this year.
“This expansion of our educational service is more welcome evidence of Qatar’s determination to develop its core professional skills in partnership with excellence all over the world, and to shift the local economy more securely into information and service industries as part of the national vision for 2030,” Rehren said.
Meanwhile, UCL Qatar is building an extensive publications collection focusing on cultural heritage, librarianship and information studies, intended to help students gain a grounding in the key theoretical and practical skills needed to work as a library or information professional.
The professional practice element of the MA in Library and Information Studies programme is managed in collaboration with Qatar University, providing intern placement opportunities for each student on the course.
According to demand and availability, subjects outside the compulsory core curriculum may include archiving skills, electronic and web publishing, manuscript studies and services to children and young people.
Students considered for the course will be those with the appropriate internationally recognised qualifications as well as relevant work experience, and all will undertake an independent research project culminating in a dissertation of 12,000 to 15,000 words.





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