Why Qatari faculty members are leaving QU
Dr Mohammed R AlMohanadi
The article titled “Very few Qatari faculty members in Qatar University” (published in The Peninsula on March 28, 2015) unfortunately contains a number of fallacies that must be highlighted and deliberated on.
It is a fact that a lot of Qatari PhD-holders have left QU, and it is also a fact that teaching is a hard job that requires a lot of preparation; however, this is not the real cause behind Qatari staff leaving QU.
It is well known that almost all the Qatari faculty members who have left the university (more than 100 until now) did so during the past ten years; that is during the existing management’s period. This fact indicates a very important reason behind the migration. The management has put full control and decision-making in the hands of expatriates, giving the impression that Qataris are unfit for the role. This has greatly offended the Qataris. Being one of those migrants, I believe that this is the prime reason behind the departure of most of us.
Pay and perks are of paramount importance to any person, but a number of Qatari faculty members who left the university have ended up earning less than what they used to get in QU. They departed either because they could not work in the morbid environment or because they were forced to leave.
Some Qataris may have left QU for higher pay packages, among other reasons. This is absolutely legitimate; the packages of Qatari faculty in QU were, and still are, lower than packages that people with much lower qualifications get in other places. Some schoolteachers in SEC earn much more than QU faculty members, for example.
Finally, The Peninsula quoted Dr Nawal Al Sheikh as saying that “another reason for not many nationals in QU faculty could be that English is the medium of instruction at all levels” — a truly false statement by Dr Nawal and awfully quoted by the paper. It was parroted without any solid scientific reference. Just to let you both know, most of these Qataris have graduated from very reputable international universities, and mainly from the UK and the United states. I truly felt affronted reading this statement.
The author is a former assistant
professor at Qatar University
