Higher standards: Aligning the system with labour market needs and research requirements

As part of a long-term strategy to diversify away from dependency on hydrocarbons and move towards a more knowledge-based economy, Qatar has placed considerable importance on education and training. Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030), the country’s long-term national development blueprint, sees neither development nor progress without an advanced Education and Training Sector Strategy (ETSS) that supports not only the labour market’s needs, but also helps fulfil each individual’s potential.

QNV 2030 breaks down into a series of stepped development plans, with the Qatar National Development Strategy 2011-16 (NDS 2011-16) the current programme. This sets out 21 key outcomes for the sector, with many now watching to see how these may play into the country’s economic development. Indeed, while Qatar’s built landscape is rapidly changing, so too is its underlying educational and cultural substructure.

Reform

Education reform became a national priority after a sector analysis in 2001 by RAND Corporation concluded that the existing system was failing to adequately prepare students for tertiary-level learning or the labour force. The survey also concluded that the system was not only failing to produce high-quality outcomes, but was “rigid, out-dated and resistant to reform”. Heeding this call to action, the government established the Supreme Education Council (SEC) in 2002. Since then, Qatar’s education system has undergone far-reaching structural changes, with Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation (QF), helping to oversee and drive many of these efforts.

First came the Education for a New Era reform in 2002, which began the transformation of state schools into independent schools, followed by the establishment of professional standards and licences for teachers, along with curriculum guidelines. Now, the ETSS has also been instituted. Developed by the SEC in consultation with key stakeholders, such as Qatar University (QU) and QF, the plan aims to realise the 21 education- and training-related goals laid out as part of NDS 2011-16.

The ETSS works to align the education system – K-12, higher and vocational – with research and labour force requirements. Beginning with K-12, the benchmarks are universal access and a national curriculum that emphasises language, mathematics and science skills. These benchmarks are meant to harmonise with curricula and programmes at higher education institutions and vocational schools, and to develop lifelong skills. The plan also addresses necessary improvements in higher education (HE). Here, programmes and courses are being brought more into alignment with labour force requirements, including coursework that emphasises knowledge economy skills.

Consistent and interconnected with this goal are upgrades to the country’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programme offerings.

TVET has a crucial role to play in helping to diversify the economy and providing alternatives to traditional paths to employment, which for Qataris have largely been in the public sector. Finally, the ETSS calls on institutions to conduct international-standard scientific research, building on Qatar’s considerable investment in infrastructure for research and development (R&D).

Budget & Spending

To realise its education and training goals, Qatar has also been ramping up spending in these areas. Over the past five years, it has doubled its education budget, allocating a record $6bn to education for fiscal year 2013/14, up 15% from fiscal year 2012/13. With the government’s focus on improving primary and secondary education systems in particular, schools in these areas are set to receive a major portion of the spend. “This is a key step ahead as the education sector now has a share of 3.8% in the country’s GDP,” Yousef Hussein Kamal, former minister of finance, told local press in May 2013, after the latest budget allocations had been announced. It was also noted that a large portion of the estimated allocations for the education sector would go to R&D.

At the same time, education’s portion of the capital spending allocation in fiscal year 2013/14 is 28%. The building of schools will likely take a major portion of that allocation, along with spending on tertiary facilities, such as QF’s Education City.

In addition, in May 2013, a draft law for the establishment of a health and education fund was approved by the Advisory Council, with working capital of QR360bn ($98.6bn). The main aim of the fund would be to provide sustainable financial resources and support for developing the nation’s education and health sectors, according to the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics. Government revenues will fund this expansion directly on an annual basis.

Passing The Exam

When it comes to international indexes of educational attainment, Qatar’s performance has been mixed. The UN Development Programme’s Human Development Index, which ranks countries according to three variables – life expectancy at birth, education and income, on a purchasing power parity basis – placed Qatar at number 36 on its 2013 list, ahead of the UAE at 41 and Kuwait at 54.

Yet, Qatar scored poorly in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, an international comparative study carried out by the OECD. Qatar’s maths score was 376, below the mean of 494. In reading, it scored 388, on a mean of 496, and in science, 384 on a mean of 501. These results showed room for improvement, although they also reveal signs that progress is already being made. The maths score was 9.2 points up from the previous assessment, while reading was up 12 points and science by 5.4 points.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the World Economic Forum’s “Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14” – which sees education as a key pillar – Qatar came 13th out of 144 countries. According to the report, Qatar should continue to pay significant attention to developing into a knowledge- and innovation-driven economy – meaning the state should drive innovation by procuring high-technology products, encouraging universities to collaborate with the private sector, and making scientists and engineers readily available. Ensuring primary education is universal will also be key.

Public & Private

The Qatari education system is composed of both private and public K-12 independent schools, along with private Arabic and international schools, preparatory schools, secondary schools and tertiary institutions. The independent schools – which are funded by the government and managed by Qatari administrators – operate with a degree of autonomy in setting pedagogical preferences, making staffing decisions, and carrying out professional development and training. Curriculum standards are set by the SEC, which is charged with carrying out annual assessments to measure student learning and school performance.

When the SEC instituted the independent school system, it outlined four principles that they had to adhere to: autonomy (subject to some conditions), variety and diversity in school choice, accountability to the government through assessment and reporting audits and parental choice of school. At the beginning of the 2013/14 academic year, 178 independent schools – 60% of all schools – had opened their doors to students eligible for free education, with nearly 90,000 students enrolled. The November 2013 study also pointed out a potential challenge for the SEC’s stated intent to achieve 70% Qatarisation of teachers and staff in independent schools in the near future. The Qatarisation programme seeks to ensure 50%-plus employment of Qatari nationals in each sector or business.

According to the International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, currently 25% of teachers in independent schools are Qatari. Furthermore, more than 30% of all teachers in the country are not qualified to teach, and 31% have no formal qualifications to teach – 35% of these also teach in independent schools.

Yet, a 2012 independent study carried out by Ideation Center Insight, a Booz & Co. research arm, showed Qatari students regard independent schools more highly than international private schools. This esteem is supported by healthy growth in enrolment numbers since the changeover to the independent school system. Looking at the seven-year period between the 2011/12 and the 2004/05 school years, the number of independent schools grew by 10%, primary and preparatory independent school students increased by 12% each, secondary school independent students rose by 28% and independent school staff grew 39%.

Meanwhile, the private education sector in Qatar is divided into three types of schools: international, private Arab and community. The international schools generally offer a Western-style education, and graduates sit the international baccalaureate. In 2013 77 international schools were operating in Qatar, making up 26% of all schools. Places in international schools are scarce though, as the number of expatriates working and living in Qatar has grown faster than schools’ capacity.

On a positive note, the Foreign Investment Law exempts the education sector from the requirement to have a local Qatari partner or sponsor, so this is one area ripe for foreign development and investment.

Education City

The HE system, meanwhile, has undergone rapid expansion in recent years. Key to this have been initiatives and spending by QF, a non-profit organisation operating with both private and government funding. One of QF’s major initiatives is Education City (EC), currently in a $7.5bn expansion phase that is due for completion in 2014. EC brings together universities from across the globe that offer academic programmes ranging from medicine and engineering to Islamic studies. EC is home to a range of institutions that offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate programmes. At the bachelor’s level, students at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar can earn a degree in biology, business administration or IT. Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar offers bachelor’s degrees in international affairs focusing on international politics, economics, history, and culture and politics. For students interested in media, Northwestern University in Qatar, which set up at EC in 2008, offers a bachelor’s in journalism and communications.

Texas A&M University at Qatar provides bachelor degree programmes in petroleum, chemical, mechanical, and electrical and computer engineering, along with master’s degrees in science and engineering. Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUQ atar) offers bachelor of fine arts degrees in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, and painting and printmaking, as well as a master of fine arts degree in design. Allyson Vanstone, dean at VCUQ atar, said, “Degree requirements here are the same as at our US campus. It was an important factor for us when establishing here. However, we expand and adapt course content for the Qatar context, particularly in our studio-based programmes.”

University College London (UCL) Qatar and the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies (QFIS) both offer programmes at the master’s level. UCL Qatar has degrees in archaeology, conservation studies, library and information studies, and museum and gallery practices, while QFIS teaches master’s programmes in Islamic studies, including Islamic finance and public policy. According to Hatem El Karanshawy, dean of QFIS, “With regard to competition, the marketplace has room to guarantee all educational institutions students for their programmes in Islamic finance due to the high demand from the industry for graduate and postgraduate training.”

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar offers a medical degree, while Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) currently has several master’s degrees programme as well as a recently launched PhD in energy sciences in conjunction with QF. HBKU will eventually offer master’s and PhD programmes in science, engineering, technology, humanities and social sciences, law and public policy, public health, business and Islamic studies.

Meanwhile, HEC Paris caters to business students with an executive master of business administration (EMBA). “As the only EMBA programme in Qatar, our job is to complement the local education system, especially continuing education from international branch campuses in QF. There is a huge demand for executive management degrees in middle management in the market and also continuing education for upper management looking to transition between jobs or for salary increases,” Laoucine Kerbache, the CEO and academic dean of HEC Paris in Qatar, told OBG.

The EC complex also includes the Qatar Science and Technology Park, a key part of the country’s R&D and high-tech business strategy (see analysis). Despite offering such a wide array of programmes and diplomas, some of the universities at EC have had difficulty reaching a healthy threshold of enrolment, however. Historically speaking, many Qataris have preferred to study overseas for their university, though for cultural reasons this is more common for men than for women.

Outside of EC, the University of Calgary – Qatar and the College of North Atlantic Qatar offer master’s degrees. The country also possesses a well-respected state HE institute, QU, which in 2003 began a major programme to raise academic standards and initiated the process of gaining accreditation for its courses.

QU has become a campus of choice for female Qatari students in particular, whose families sometimes prefer for them to remain in the country for their tertiary education. Recently too, many of QU’s courses switched from English to Arabic as the medium of instruction, opening the doors to a wider range of students. This is particularly relevant considering the foreign universities at EC generally teach courses in English only.

Recognising Innovation

QF organises the annual World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), chaired by Sheikh Abdulla bin Al Thani, president of HBKU and vice-president of education for QF, WISE brings together education stakeholders, decision makers and opinion leaders from around the world to discuss educational issues in a global forum. First held in 2009, the most recent summit concluded on October 31, 2013.

Promoting innovation in both policymaking and the classroom is a fundamental element of WISE’s approach to education. WISE now numbers more than 18,000 active members in 152 countries and holds an annual awards ceremony, which spotlight initiatives around the world that address pressing global challenges in education. In 2013 the awards went to Medersat.com, Promoting Equality in African Schools, Advance Learning Information Systems Online, Pathways to Education, Te Kotahitanga and iThra Youth Initiative.

In addition to its annual awards, WISE also supports the Education Above All (EAA) global initiative, which takes in a number of international programmes – including Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict, Educate A Child and Al Fakhoora – that promote, protect and facilitate access to education for children in the developing world. In October 2013 EAA and its partners announced they are on track to bring over 2m out-of-school children into education programmes, with plans to reach 10m by the end of the 2015 school year.

Addressing A Mismatch

In 2012 the SEC launched an online learning portal offering more than 3000 courses to students and employees. The portal provides online courses that lead to certification in IT and business studies. In the long term the broader goal is to digitise the teaching and learning content in all of the schools across the country.

This initiative is designed to address what has sometimes been perceived by businesses as a difficulty in sourcing employees with the requisite job skills and qualifications, including, among other things, English language skills, office etiquette as well as technical knowledge, within the domestic market.

A great effort is thus being made to improve the reputation of TVET institutions and programmes to increase their appeal to Qatari nationals as pathways to professional careers. Importantly to the government, TVET can also offer different pathways to employment in order to meet labour market needs by directly preparing students for professional activities.

The SEC’s ETSS 2011-16 lays out a programme for improving TVET. The outcomes to be achieved include a framework for the development of high-quality, well-managed and appropriate TVET offerings, aligned with the needs of Qatari society and the labour market, and an improvement of the perception of TVET programmes.

Outlook

Because the Foreign Investment Law exempts the education sector from the requirement to have a local Qatari partner or sponsor, the opportunities for foreign investment and partnerships are numerous, and the process of investing is relatively straightforward. With the population swelling and the government channelling increasing amounts of funds into the system to improve it, chances are that there are opportunities available for any investor looking to participate in the sector.

In terms of specifics, there is a need for improved teacher training – and for teachers themselves – both of which present good opportunities for investors. Increasing the number and improving the quality of private schools is another prospect, as is consulting on curriculum design and improved educational standards. The government’s drive to create a knowledge-based economy also means that innovative teaching and learning methodologies, as well as the equipment that goes along with them, will be in high demand in the years to come. Add to all of this the expansion taking place at EC and the ongoing efforts of WISE, and the sector seems well placed to continue growing ahead.