DOHA: Georgetown University Qatar’s community engagement programme this year focuses on the theme Labour and migration with an aim to give students a deep understanding about the issue.
A total of 45 students are involved in the non-creditprogramme. They meet with migrant workers in Doha from several countries, to gain a broader academic and a deeper personal understanding of why and how people go overseas to work.
They also received a 12-hour course on migration, which included a close examination of migrant labour in Qatar. The students also were required to complete a standard research project in order to go to other countries and learn more about migration and labour. Projects included news articles, creative stories, and short documentary films.
Some have visited the industrial area met with the migrant workers and done several documentations. Recently a group of 14 students went to the Philippines recently on a field visit and another group will visit the US to learn more about why people go overseas to work.
“Theprogrammeme gets students to think how they can work to make a change,” GU-Q’s Senior Student Development Officer Alex Silberman told this daily recently. He explained that a campusprogramme may not be bale to make an immediate change, but when students start work as professionals their experience would help them in better decision making.
Fourteen students recently spent eight days in the Philippines studying Filipino migration and the migrant worker process. “The Philippines economy draws significant value from remittances from its 10 million overseas workers. Consequently, the Philippines is an ideal country in which to gain a first-hand understanding of migration,” said Silberman.
The Peninsula
