The Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has revealed a new unified brand identity and website, as it announced details of its 10-year strategic plan.
The brand reveal comes after a period of major growth for HBKU that saw the launch of several new colleges, programmes within the university, and the enhancement of existing programmes and centres.
The HBKU Strategic Plan 2016-2026 focuses on four pillars – excellence, people, innovation and partners – and highlights the need to further integrate the university’s specialised, multidisciplinary academic programmes and research activities to create an innovative, interdependent ecosystem. This assimilation is mirrored in HBKU’s new brand identity, which unites various components within one consistent, singular identity.
HBKU chairperson HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani said that the university will forever be firmly rooted in its Qatari heritage.
“The launch of a new brand identity marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for HBKU. The new identity reflects its innovative approach to offering students high-quality research-based education, while the ten-year plan will help ensure the university’s development is in line with its strategic objectives and matched to the economic and cultural needs of the nation.”
The new brand is the result of consultations with its stakeholders and the leadership of Qatar Foundation of which HBKU is a member.  
The HBKU logo is based on one of the prominent geometric shapes found in Islamic architecture: the triangle. Patterns based on the triangle can be seen extensively across the HBKU buildings within Education City, linking HBKU to Islamic heritage and culture while also signifying an embedded intellectualism. It also contains a beautiful combination of the initial letters of the university’s name, HBKU, in both Arabic and Latin characters, signifying its role as a locally focused but globally minded academic institution.
A new tagline “Innovating today… shaping tomorrow” captures HBKU’s commitment to be at the cutting edge of education and research in order to best help grow and strengthen Qatar’s knowledge-based economy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
HBKU president Dr Ahmad M Hasnah said: “We are committed to building a tightly integrated ecosystem and working across the lines of academia, research, and industry to support human, economic, and social development in Qatar and beyond. The new brand personality aligns the various components of the university and reflects our recent growth, bringing HBKU’s colleges, research institutes, and centres closer together and visually representing our heritage, aspirations, and values to the world.”
In harmony with its efforts over the past few years, the university plans to further expand and diversify its offerings, launching new integrated, multidisciplinary, research-based programmes over the coming years to add value to Qatar’s academic landscape. Graduate studies will continue to be emphasised at HBKU, targeting the skills gap in strategic industries vital to the region’s development.
HBKU’s strategic plan also highlights an increase in research activities by its colleges and institutes in the areas of energy, water, the environment, health and life sciences, computing, law and public policy, humanities, and social science. The university will work closely with existing and new partners to tackle Qatar’s Grand Challenges and prioritise economic development, attracting leading faculty and scientists to its campus in Education City.
HBKU’s Centre of Executive Education is developing a range of customised programmes for the public and private sectors in Qatar and beyond. The university’s publishing arm, HBKU Press, is playing a crucial role in helping disseminate the knowledge gained and insights made by HBKU researchers throughout the region and world.