DOHA: Qatar University (QU) President, Dr Sheikha Abdulla Al Misnad (pictured), has been under attack in the local social media for comments she made during a recent panel discussion at Dalhousie University in Canada about efforts to transform the country’s national university.
Her alleged statement that she began from zero a decade ago when she took over as QU chief infuriated many Qataris, but in a press statement issued yesterday, Al Misnad clarified that her comments had been put out of context. The panel discussion at Dalhousie University which was filmed focused on the challenges heads of universities worldwide faced today in developing higher education in their respective countries.
“It was a critical analysis,” Al Misnad said, adding that the discussions were held in an academic environment and called for the participants to be analytical and objective.
Unfortunately, she said, her comments were taken out of context and joggled up together and put on YouTube in the form of a film.
Al Misnad said the film that has been put on YouTube has been edited in a professional way and features clippings from here and there.
“I can, therefore, understand the heartburn it has caused and the reactions to it.”
Al Misnad said that at the panel discussion she talked about a lack of motivation and a culture in which people generally tend to take things for granted.
“After talking about the achievements of Qatar and its universities, I talked about the main challenges facing societies that are prosperous, from the analytical, economic and social point of view.”
“What I mean by a culture of entitlement whereby people take things for granted is that there is a general misconception among students joining a university is that they think that the university should be responsible for their success.”
The student takes it for granted that he would graduate forgetting that, that requires efforts on his part as well, and that he should have academic potential.
“But when we made the rule that students should fulfil certain minimum requirements (to get a degree) and they would be given only three attempts to improve their grades if they were below the minimum requirement, a lot of people denounced this move.”
This was one of the challenges facing her when she began reforms at QU, said the President. “This, however, doesn’t mean that there were no Qataris who had the motivation to study hard and excelled in studies.”
“I feel sorry that people suspect my loyalty to my country and people and think that I mistrust my own people. The various projects and initiatives taken to encourage Qatari students (at QU) prove the contrary.”
This culture of lack of motivation is a natural phenomenon in societies that are prosperous. “I raised this point at the panel discussion. In such discussions it is important to be positively self-critical as every other participant does that.”
“In the social media some people mentioned that I started off from zero. They said this was undermining the efforts and achievements of people who mattered at QU before 2003.”
The fact is, said Al Misnad, that she said that she began reforms at QU from zero. QU became autonomous in 2003 from being a government institution. And this required a whole body of regulations and policies. “This required new strategies and standards.”
“Since then we have managed to produce graduates who are contributing to the development of the country and we are proud. QU should reflect in its development the future vision of Qatar.”
The reforms at QU were carried out by individuals. It was rather a national initiative in which a large number of people were involved.
Regarding removing students from QU, the President said: “I feel sad that they are saying that I am happy having done that. In fact, it was the most difficult decision but was necessary to be taken for reforms to succeed and for the development of the country. We insisted on minimum grade requirements that are applicable to other universities”.
In fact, many students did improve their grades. “When people criticized this policy, we sought feedback from the various segments, including students, and partially reviewed this policy.”
QU has churned out tens of thousands of graduates and “I feel proud to be one of them”. Al Misnad said that the reforms called for very difficult decisions. They called for courage to be implemented. “After a decade (of reforms) I can assure you that I did my best and with accountability.” She said: “I don’t want to see the reforms rolled back, for they don’t concern an individual”.
The Peninsula
