Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq) welcomed its largest freshman class since 2012 when 110 freshman students started classes on August 23, bringing the total enrolment of the branch campus to 545.


Texas A&M at Qatar welcomed the new class during Aggie Life 101, a week-long orientation.

Sixty students, or 54.5%, in the Class of 2020 are Qataris — constituting the branch campus’s largest intake of freshman Qatari students ever, Texas A&M at Qatar has said in a statement. 
This brings Tamuq’s total Qatari undergraduate enrolment to 254, or 54.4%. 
In addition, 45.5% of the new class of freshmen is female, bringing the branch campus’s total female undergraduate enrolment to 42.8% — more than twice the US national average of women in engineering (19.9%) and significantly higher than the female enrolment in engineering at Texas A&M’s main campus in College Station, Texas, US (21.9%), the statement noted.
Officials said the count of students might fluctuate slightly over the next few days. 
One of the new faces on campus for the first week of classes is Dr Cesar Malave, dean of Texas A&M at Qatar, who took his post on July 1. 
“I congratulate each and every one of our new students on not only getting into this prestigious university, but also for having the wisdom and courage to take on this challenge of a world-class engineering education,” said Dr Malave.
Dr Malave credited the “record-setting” success of this fall’s incoming class to the work of the Office of Admissions and the Office of Development, Engagement and Outreach for their efforts in attracting Qatar’s best and brightest to Tamuq.
Students were welcomed to campus during a week-long orientation event called Aggie Life 101, hosted by the Department of Student Affairs. The series of workshops and activities gave incoming students a chance to learn about Texas A&M and its unique traditions, as well as what it takes to succeed in a world-renowned engineering institution, the statement added.
During the week, new students also met their fellow classmates and student campus leaders, attended academic advising sessions and toured the Texas A&M Engineering Building.
In addition, 13 new graduate students started their master’s degrees in chemical engineering this semester. Texas A&M at Qatar has offered Master of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in chemical engineering since 2011.