Qatar Foundation Convocation Ceremony 2010

Dear Graduates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Peace be upon you and God’s mercy and blessings,

Today we celebrate the graduation of the third class of Education City students.

A year ago, we stood right here celebrating that same occasion, and with the recurrence of similar occasions, our hope grows in attaining the objective of continuing to shape the needed guarantee primarily for our society and the human society in general.

I share this value with both our male and female graduates because together, they constitute our guarantee towards change, our hope for a better tomorrow and for building a safe, brotherly and progressive local and universal society.

Dear Graduates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have addressed in several occasions the importance of scientific research as one of the components forming and building our human capabilities.

And today I reiterate that we are presented with great opportunities which we should benefit from in order to develop our research system so that it can rightfully become our path towards accessing worthily this millennium and to grant the appropriate stature to the one who made education and scientific research his absolute purpose.

I would like here to particularly address our youth throughout their educational phases by telling them: you have a golden opportunity to benefit from what has been planned by the leader of our path His Highness the Emir with regard to building and strengthening a national scientific research culture stemming from the society, meeting its needs and benefiting from the international expertise without merely importing it.

To help achieve this objective, 2,8 % of the national GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was allocated as a confirmation of His Highness’ vision consisting of empowering scientific research through the necessary financial resources regardless of the probable price fluctuations of our raw materials.

Therefore, I affirm that this is a golden opportunity for the success of any scientific research project requiring first the political will which exists, necessitates financial support, which is clear, and needs good organization and that what specifically prompted calls for the creation of “Qatar National Research Fund” offering since 2006, 540 research scholarships to the benefit of national and international institutions representing 30% of these scholarships.

In parallel with building and enhancing this culture which should become a part of our lives, we must, as we appreciate the significance of our belonging to our Gulf neighborhood and our Arab surrounding, make the most of the existing atmosphere relating to developing the scientific research system in order to enhance networks of complementation and collaboration among all the specialized scientific centers, and we must make the utmost benefit from the complementation of trials and expertise.

On another level, we should relentlessly pursue our efforts so that Qatar becomes a hub attracting research competencies through the opportunities provided by the available infrastructures, the atmosphere of freedom and the encouraging of innovation and creativity.

In this context, our initiative with the Arab expatriates scientists, with all the national significance it carries represented an opportunity to launch research structures, which is clearly proven by our three national centers.

Therefore, I renew my personal commitment to pursue the effort in order to achieve the purposes of the three Qatar Research Centers in the areas of bio-sciences, environmental sciences and information technology, as they host the national research effort and constitute its platform towards sustainable development.

And because we have high ambitions and high expectations for Qatar Foundation, we do not spare any effort to move forward in developing the structures of this foundation in line with the quality requirement which represents our strategic bet.

As a result, time has come to commence the execution of an advanced phase of this important national project since all the reasons ensuring the success of this operation have come to fruition.

The presence of these world class and leading educational institutions necessitated a framework for collaboration and complementation with these universities in a way that provides a unique opportunity to generate the Education City model where the competencies and the capabilities of its human potential complement each other and come together to enrich the academic and intellectual experience for the students of these centers.

Also, our objective is to expand the opportunities of collaboration and complementation among the teaching and research faculty in the various fields of common research so that they are in harmony with our national strategy and with the good investment and use of the available resources.

In order to achieve this, it was agreed to create a new model, the Multiversity, by which we affirm that our seeking of constructive and fruitful regeneration will never stop.

In line with this national objective, I value the role of our Qatari society and its institutions in supporting this orientation through highlighting our cultural qualifications and introducing them to Qatar and to the world.

I am pleased to announce today the joining of the Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization 

to Qatar Foundation under the umbrella of the Faculty of Islamic Studies.

It was decided for this center to be named (the Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani Center) in recognition of Sheikh Mohammed’s role in founding this center and his strong support for enabling it to undertake its missions in the area of translating the Islamic Sources into English in order to introduce to the world the pillars of our immortal culture, and as a result contribute to building our contemporary cultural edifice.

Dear Graduates,

You represent our human capital, this regenerated potential which we are convinced of its continuity provided we invest in it properly.

Here comes the role of the graduate’s attachment to his organization, nurturing it with his acquired experience obtained through the various difficulties and hurdles he faced. His recurring and sustainable return to his educational institution is necessary to develop the needed skills enabling him to overcome these difficulties.

That is how the graduate can become the link between the job market and its challenges and between his faculty or educational center. With such dynamism which shouldn’t be confined to merely being a reaction, we can defeat monotony, the main enemy of innovation and creativity.

You my dear graduates are endowed with this mission, you are its architects and its executors.

This is the message of Education City, a space meant by its founder His Highness the Emir to be a free space preserving with determination our society’s identity and values, believing in the virtue of diversity and mutual respect, encouraging creativity and hosting positive and constructive human cultures. A space with such attributes constitutes an added value by which Qatar contributes to building generations and to bringing cultures and civilizations together.

These attributes are unique and have a special value because you my dear graduates constitute their structure with a regenerated creativity. It is indeed a source of pride for Qatar to be known by the innovations, skills and intellect of its children as much as it is known by its natural, social and cultural qualifications.

Isn’t this the greatest honor you deserve on your graduation and isn’t this an honor which your country deserves as well? This is an honor for the value of the human being and his stature.

Qatar is proud of you, proud of your educational achievements, and it will be more proud and lively as it lives the contributions of your professional life whether inside or outside these gates as you build Qatar’s glory and enhance its stature.