Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has said it continues to offer a wide range of educational travel opportunities across its colleges and research centres, including service learning trips, specialised academic training as well as participation in global competitions and moots.
Such initiatives help "fuel the personal, academic and professional development of students and faculty researchers alike as well as contribute to the institution’s maturing international profile", HBKU has stressed in a press statement.
HBKU’s four colleges – College of Islamic Studies (CIS), College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), College of Science and Engineering (CSE) and College of Law and Public Policy (CLPP) – regularly collaborate with international universities to provide students with a variegated learning experience and exclusive insights into teaching pedagogies and foreign cultural experiences, the statement notes.
Two students from CHSS, Osama Dari and Mohamed Jawad Abdulla, recently returned from a one-week intensive course on 'digital scholarly editing' at the School of Advanced Study, a postgraduate institution of the University of London.
Covering the principles of scholarly editing and methods for producing digital editions, the students gained hands-on editing experiences at the Senate House Library in the heart of Bloomsbury, Central London.



Osama Dari recently returned from a one-week intensive course at the School of Advanced Study, a postgraduate institution of the University of London.

The historic library hosts a repository of more than 2mn books and 50 special collections.
Dari, a Master of Arts in Digital Humanities and Societies student who took part in the trip, said: “The five-day course proved to be an invaluable experience for Mohamed and me, as it gave us the opportunity to grasp the history and techniques of scholarly editing while we became aware of the challenges of digital editions.”
This month, a delegation of students and academics from CIS is also attending the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies 2018 in Seville, Spain.
The conference, considered among the most prestigious events in the field of Middle Eastern studies, serves as a meeting point of the global scholarly community to debate on a wide range of topics concerning the Middle East.
Dr Alexandre Caeiro, research assistant professor at CIS, said: “This is a truly pivotal opportunity for some of our graduate students to gain unparalleled exposure through formally presenting their research during this major international gathering.”
This summer’s interactions come against the backdrop of a series of educational travel opportunities students partook in during the course of the academic year.
As the only university from outside the European Union (EU), HBKU’s CLPP participated at the Fifth EUROPA Moot Court Competition held in Greece.
CLPP’s Juris Doctor students defended their cases before the highest judges in the EU while gaining a firmer understanding of the application of the Union’s law within the foreign legal and court system.
HBKU’s CSE student, Dabeeruddin Syed, and his team excelled at the national level of the Huawei ICT Skill Competition, reaching the grand competition finale at Huawei Technologies’ headquarters in Shenzhen, China.
During the finale, the Qatar team worked on a simulated scenario involving both theoretical and practical exam components.
The complex eight-hour test necessitated competitors to demonstrate working knowledge of firewalls, cloud computing, switching, routing, and network security.
They were awarded the Excellence Prize for their efforts in the final ceremony, which was attended by high-ranking government officials and senior representatives from the participating countries’ embassies and consulates.
In addition to their academic engagements, HBKU was also involved in conflict studies and advanced humanitarian efforts through a number of service trips.
Most recently, HBKU representatives set out on a week-long trip to Jordan to study the realities of refugee life in light of ongoing regional conflict.
Another HBKU delegation embarked on a relief tour to Bangladesh earlier this year, visiting Rohingya refugee camps and hospitals, where the participants gained an understanding of the vast significance of volunteer efforts through their direct interaction with the local refugees.
Through such short study-abroad opportunities, graduate students are able to attain a first-hand understanding of the multifaceted challenges being faced by different communities around the world, the statement notes.
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