Qatar Education Ministry doubles government scholarship seats

Ministry of Education and Higher Education

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced that the number of scholarship seats within the new government plan for the academic years (2024-2025) is expected to be 1,500 seats, compared to last year's 700 seats. The ministry attributed this to the increase in the number of education tracks from 3 to 8, with the aim of meeting all the needs of the Qatari labour market in the government and the private sectors.

In an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Higher Education Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Hareb Mohammed Al Jabri reviewed the government scholarship plan, its general guidelines and most important features for the academic year (2024-2025), and its goals of economic growth, equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion as well as talent development. He affirmed that the government scholarship is an opportunity for all Qatari students to obtain a government scholarship, provided that the necessary and required conditions are met.

He explained that the ministry's specialized team studied the scholarship situation and the labour market for all sectors of the country, indicating that, for the first time, scholarships were concerned with the private sector, after previously focusing only on the needs of the government sector.

Government scholarships were previously based on selecting universities in terms of general classification, while they are now moving towards private classification according to tracks, specializations and fields, to ensure the quality of the scholarship program outcomes after the completion of this journey at the university level, Dr. Al Jabri said.

He noted that scholarship tracks were also previously limited to engineering, medicine, and education, while they now include tracks of engineering, science and technology, in addition to allied medicine, education and pedagogical sciences, and social sciences and humanities, which means that students of the literary track in high school will now have opportunities for scholarships.

The creative economy track and the vocational track, as well as the sports track, are also included for the first time, he said, pointing out that these fields shall feed the labour market and its needs in the government and private sectors.

Dr. Al Jabri noted that he had multiple tracks himself, in the field of creative economics, social and human sciences, and in the professional and sports tracks, pointing out that the ministry has paid great attention to facilitating the application process for obtaining a government scholarship or for postgraduate studies, in terms of reducing the required procedures and documents compared to previous years, in addition to setting new criteria for selection and approval of scholarship applications for postgraduate studies to obtain master's or doctoral degrees.

In regard to the opportunities provided by the government scholarship policy for Qatari students, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Higher Education Affairs at the Ministry of Education revealed that between 60-100 percent have opportunities for government scholarships. This has never occurred before, he said, explaining that the selection criteria used to focus on academic achievement, allowing only the distinguished students to obtain the scholarship opportunity.

He indicated that students in the literary, scientific and technological tracks, whose percentages ranged between 60 percent and 100 percent, now have opportunities for scholarship.

In this context, Dr. Al Jabri explained that professional diploma students can be given 60 percent internal scholarships, 70 percent internally for Tomouh Program or joining the Academic Bridge Program, 80 percent for internal scholarships for engineering, medicine, and assistant medicine majors, 75 percent for sciences, arts, and nursing majors, and 80 percent and above for external scholarship majors in seven different tracks.

Dr. Al Jabri has revealed the introduction of special programs for the top ten students in both the literary and scientific tracks at the state level, allowing each student to choose their preferred field of study in Qatar or abroad.

Dr. Al Jabri emphasized that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has also reviewed and improved the financial benefits for scholarship recipients to address the rising costs of living and inflation in most host countries to spare any financial pressure, with the minimum external scholarship amounting to QAR 14,000, in addition to pre-departure costs and an annual ticket to the host country. Notably, students studying in the medical fields will receive greater benefits to encourage and support these specializations.

Regarding the Amiri scholarships for the top 24 universities worldwide, Dr. Al Jabri stated that the monthly stipend will be QAR 20,000, in addition to being counted as years of service and the disbursement of two business class tickets to encourage students to join and study at these prestigious universities.

He noted that the scholarship policy considers cultural diversity, encouraging students to study in countries with different cultures to expose them to various civilizations. However, the final choice rests with the student, provided it aligns with the ministry's approved universities. The ministry aims to distribute scholarships to students across approximately 550 universities, including those under the Amiri scholarship program.

For non-English speaking countries, Dr. Al Jabri highlighted that the ministry allows Qatari students to study the language of the host country, such as in Japan, China, South Korea, Spain, and Germany, mentioning that the number of Qatari students in these countries is increasing annually.

He stressed that self-funded students who wish to study abroad should obtain prior approval from the ministry for diploma, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs.

He further noted that increasing qualified national university capabilities would raise Qatar's international education indicators, which means that the success of the community members in obtaining university degrees and postgraduate studies supporting and facilitating the acquisition of these skills, whether through scholarships, self-funded studies, or local universities, is crucial.

Dr. Al Jabri also emphasized the ministry's responsibility for the quality of educational outcomes. Therefore, it must be regulated to ensure that students do not enroll in unaccredited or poorly ranked universities, particularly in sensitive fields like medicine and engineering.

The ministry seeks to balance encouraging the pursuit of academic degrees while ensuring students obtain valid qualifications from recognized universities. Hence, the ministry has implemented a straightforward approval process to facilitate this and ensure that the chosen universities are among the approved institutions.

Additionally, he announced that the ministry would soon release new lists of universities eligible for government scholarships, noting the limited number of Arab universities currently available for such scholarships. He acknowledged the ministry's awareness of this issue and mentioned that a study had been conducted on the matter.

QNA