Qatari nationals amount to more than 80% of the graduating Class of 2013 and the remaining 20% comes from 17 different nationalities.  Among the graduates,  girls account for 64%  and boys   36%. The Academic Bridge Program expects 30% of this year’s graduating class will enter one of Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) partner universities in August. By this, around 90% of ABP graduates will have gained admissions to an English-speaking university, either here in Qatar or abroad, mostly in the US or the UK.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Miles Lovelace, Director of the ABP congratulated the students on their achievement.

He said: “This greater than normal gain can be attributed to the hard work of both the students and their teachers. In general, each year, about 90% of the ABP graduates continue at a university while the other 10% either go to work, join the military or police, or delay their university studies until later.”

Aisha al-Muhannadi, ABP president of the Student Association, commented that ABP made her goal  possible, and realise that so much could  be done and learned in less than a year.  “What I want you to take away from my experience is that with every door that closes another one opens. Every new door that opens brings friendships, brings memories, and brings new lessons. And most importantly, every new door that opens provides preparations for new learning experiences.”

The keynote speech was given by Khalid Aboujassoum, an ABP graduate of 2003 who currently has a bachelor of science in applied science in computer engineering, engineering management and entrepreneurship from  University of Ottawa, Canada, and who was the first prize winner of the 2012 Stars of Science Contest.

Among the graduates,  40 students have graduated with honours and two of them with high honours. Two students have achieved perfect attendance for the whole second semester.