A total of 4,500 Qatari students are now on scholarships abroad studying teaching, medicine, programming, engineering and other majors, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE)'s Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Higher Education Affairs, Dr Hareb Mohamed al-Jabri, said on Tuesday.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the last day of the exhibition associated with the roll out of the 2024-2030 MoEHE Strategy, al-Jabri said the Qatari students on scholarships abroad include 1,114 male and female teachers, 450 doctors, 500 programmers, 1,000 engineers and other specializations, all of them will feed the labour market in the coming years.
He said the MoEHE Strategy, launched under the theme "Igniting the Spark of Learning", is built upon three main factors — providing higher education for all society segments including Qataris, residents and people with disabilities, boosting higher education infrastructure and potential to support the country's economic diversification, and providing the private and government sectors with national competencies.
Qatar now has 33 higher education institutions offering around 425 diploma, bachelor's, master's and PhD programs and 34 vocational training programs. According to the scholarship program policy, each student must enroll in eight courses during the scholarship period, four of whom related to general skills, and four specialized training courses, he said.
Meanwhile, al-Jabri pointed to the Learn in Qatar project, a scheme aiming to attract international students to study in Qatari higher education institutions to further boost the country's economic diversification.