Qatar University College of Arts & Sciences (QU-CAS) needs to decide on possible interdisciplinary degrees options such as, Food Security, Criminology & Forensic Sciences, and Sustainable Development, dean Dr Eiman Mustafawi has said.
Addressing the QU-CAS advisory board meeting for the academic year 2015-2016, she welcomed the new members in addition to the continuing ones from last year.
Those who attended the meeting included Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, president of Qatar Basketball Federation; Dr Hassan al-Mohannadi, director of the Diplomatic Institute, Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Said al-Muhannadi, senior advisor to the president and CEO, Qatar Petroleum; Youssif A Saleh, general manager, Qatar Shell Research & Technology Centre; Professor Gilles Bousquet, senior special advisor for International Strategies for the president of the University of Wisconsin System; Professor Adnan Shihab-Eldin, director general, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences; Professor Anoush Ehteshami, director of the Al-Sabah Programme and joint director of the ESRC Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World in the School of Government and international affairs special adviser to the Islamic Criminal Justice Project in the Centre for Criminal Law & Justice; Dr Richard Leete, adviser to the Minister of Development, Planning and Statistics; and Dr Mohamed al-Sulaiti, research director, ExxonMobil Research Qatar.
Sheikh Saoud al-Thani said that CAS should study the market and the Qatar National Vision to offer new majors that will be mutually beneficial to students, society, the university.
Saleh encouraged the college to open majors in areas of need such as geology. He stressed the importance of having local graduates in such fields so employers don’t have to look for candidates abroad.
On CAS’ potential plan for future expansion with possible interdisciplinary degrees options including, Food Security, Criminology & Forensic Sciences, and Sustainable Development, Dr Leete noted that the UN Global Goals that have been recently passed have over 70 targets under the umbrella of sustainable development, owing to its importance.
Dr Bousquet encouraged increased collaboration with the private and public sectors as this provide the college with important information that will influence CAS degree offerings and curriculum in order to meet the needs of these sectors by providing the graduates of tomorrow.
Regarding CAS future plan to establish a food security or forensic science degree, Dr Leete suggested combining these into a degree in Security and Human Development as its broader scope could encompass food security, cyber security, and public security.
Professor Ehteshami suggested a degree with a harder (cyber, forensics) and softer (food, human) track.
Dr al-Sulaiti stressed the importance of offering degrees that are attractive to students and also do not limit their employability.
Dr al-Mohannadi noted that the field of food security is broad enough to allow for many specialisations. Hence, its graduates could work in a multitude of sectors.
The dean confirmed that different public and private sectors have welcomed the proposal of the establishment of the BSc in Food Security and they promised to provide students with scholarship opportunities.
Regarding CAS future research strategy, Dr Mustafawi proposed the theme “Energy, Environmental Science/Climate Change, and Sustainability”.