DOHA: Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) will celebrate its annual graduation tomorrow with 47 students at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC). Currently offering a four-year liberal arts curriculum with majors in International Politics, International Economics, Culture and Politics, and the recently launched International History degree, GU-Q has seen steady annual increases in enrollment numbers. In total, 19 men and 28 women representing a total of 17 countries will be graduating this year.
Among them for the Georgetown seniors Touhami Abi, Khadija Mahsud, Sara Al Misnad, Mohamad Khalil Harb and Fatema Al Malki, there is a lot to look back on, and a lot to look forward to. They all come from different countries – Algeria, US/Pakistan, Lebanon, and Qatar – but they are bonded by their school choice for their undergraduate years.
“I was originally going to go to NYU in the US, but after an initial visit, I decided to come back home to Qatar and attend GU-Q. And I’m so glad that I did, because I have come to love the people and the environment here at the school,” said Qatari student Al Malki, who is majoring in Culture and Politics. Education City was Mahsud’s first choice, because she wanted to break out of her comfort zone. “My family was hesitant to send me all the way to the US from Islamabad, so Doha was the perfect middle ground.”
Harb describes his first day at Georgetown, at the New Student Orientation, as overwhelming. He laughs now at the memory. “It was the first time I was exposed to so many nationalities at once.” There was no sign of that timidity in the many accomplishments of this student who was recently awarded honors in his chosen major, Culture and Politics, after he completed a 155 page dissertation titled “Living and Imagining City Spaces: The Case of Beirut.”
International Economics major, Abi, doesn’t mince words when it comes to the responsibility of university students: “If someone doesn’t want to be here, but is here, they are taking a spot from someone else who can take that knowledge and help the world.”
He hopes to obtain a master’s degree and eventually return to Algeria, so that he can apply his education to the development challenges back home. Georgetown offers students several internship opportunities as an introduction to the working world. But for Qatari student Al Misnad, an International Politics major, an internship at a bank helped her realise exactly what she did not want to do.
“I was at a desk from 9 am to 5 pm reviewing numbers all day. I was advised to go into investment or finance, but after that, I realised it wasn’t for me. I wanted to be in the field, working with people. As a student, working with people is something I learned I loved.”
The Peninsula
