As many as 240 male students of Qatar University’s Class of 2012 graduated from Bachelor’s and Master’s level programmes yesterday.
Qatar Administrative Control and Transparency Authority chairman HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah was the guest of honour at the ceremony held at Qatar National Convention Centre.
A total of 33 students graduated with honours, with three achieving GPA 3.94 and above. They were mechanical engineering major Mutaz Garbas Elbeh who achieved GPA 4, Ahmed Ali al-Kuwari (GPA 3.95, electrical engineering); and Basel Yahya Mismar (GPA 3.94, accounting).
At Bachelor’s level were 226 students with College of Engineering leading with 83, followed by College of Business and Economics (62), College of Arts and Sciences (42), College of Sharia & Islamic Studies (17), College of Law (13), and College of Education (nine).
Master’s level students comprised six MBAs, four M Eng in Engineering Management, two M Ed in Educational Leadership, and two M Eng in Computing.  
The ceremony also saw the first batch of graduating students from the Master’s in Engineering Management programme and the Honours Programme.
The keynote speaker, College of Law professor and recipient of the State Incentive Award Dr Hassan al-Sayed, traced his journey to the legal profession from his first interest in law as a young boy and his inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi.  “My admiration was not only for his wisdom and pure principles, but because he studied law too,” he said.
He further talked about his studies in Kuwait which had to be stopped briefly during the war, then to Jordan for his Master’s, and further to the University of East Anglia in the UK where he gained his PhD.
“It was more than 10 years of incidents and experiences, some of which were filled with concern, confusion and despair, and at other times, full of the euphoria of success and excellence,” Dr al-Sayed recalled.
He urged the students to continue to follow their dreams and to always do the best in all their endeavours.  “You are Qatar’s future and will be the next leaders who will help to further advance the country’s development and its international reputation.  Congratulations on successfully completing this journey – I know that you will continue to succeed
in all you set out to accomplish.”
Valedictorian Ahmad Ali al-Kuwari, electrical engineering major and one of the top achieving students, congratulated his colleagues, saying, “Your hard work and determination through this academic journey has paid off and now you are ready to contribute your knowledge, experience and skills to Qatar’s progress. I am proud of your success and stand with you in thanking QU leaders and our professors for guiding us through our challenges and applauding our achievements.  To our parents, I extend the most heartfelt gratitude for their unconditional support that gave us the confidence to keep focused and committed to our studies.  Thank you all very much – we will continue to make you proud.”