DOHA: A branch campus of a leading Swedish university is likely to open in Doha, according to Swedish Ambassador Ewa Polano.
Polano said she was hopeful a branch campus of Lund University will be opened.
Representatives from Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, from Lund University, headed by Director Leif Stenberg, Professor in Islamic Studies, visited Doha and met officials from universities.
The centre was founded in 2007 to support and coordinate research on the region, at Lund University. Research on the Middle East has however existed since the university was founded in 1666.
Polano invited officials from Qatar University, Georgetown and Brookings to a roundtable on ‘Qatar: Its Ambitions and Foreign Policy Relations in a Complex Region.’
Discussion focused on topics relevant to ongoing studies and research projects in both countries.
The Swedish delegation’s visit aimed to establish and deepen research cooperation with universities in Qatar and increase exchange of students and teachers and the roundtable and meetings offered a welcome opening.
Professor Stenberg praised the roundtable and said the “debate was intellectually stimulating for all of us and inspired the delegation to increase exchange and cooperation with Qatar.”
The visit follows a visit to Doha by Lund University in November 2014 and the visit to Sweden in the same month by a QNRF delegation, headed by Executive Director Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie.
Polano said she is “hopeful to bring a Lund University branch to Doha and see a country to country relationship prosper with Lund’s presence — one of the leading universities in Europe and the biggest in Scandinavia.”
Another delegation from Lund is expected to visit Doha before the summer.
The Swedish embassy is working with the “triple helix” approach encouraging partnerships involving universities, government and the private sector.The Peninsula
