HH Sheikha Moza highlights QF achievements and congratulates students during Convocation 2020, 2021

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, has praised more than 1,600 graduates from universities at Education City for their achievements and resilience amid the “exceptional circumstances” of the COVID-19 pandemic, at Qatar Foundation’s virtual Convocation ceremony.

The live, interactive event celebrated the graduates of the Classes of 2020 and 2021 from Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Hamad Bin Khalifa University and its international partner universities, as – together with members of their families – they gathered online to look back on their years within a unique educational environment, and to look ahead to the next stage of their journeys.

Speaking at Convocation – held virtually to align with Qatar’s public health guidelines – Her Highness told graduates: “It is through you that we can sustain the glories of the present, so that they strengthen our pillars for the future. “Each challenge teaches us lessons and inspires new values that enable us, together, to form new perspectives about the reality of the changes the world is facing.”

Her Highness also spoke of her belief that the pandemic will create “a new and significant trend toward young people choosing to work in the health sector”, saying: “The pandemic has shown everyone the importance of the medical profession and the extent of its impact on all aspects of life, stemming from its centrality to everything else around us.

“We have seen how the world was suddenly paralyzed in the face of the pandemic, due to the inability of health sectors to contain this sudden eventuality. All countries were affected in the face of the pandemic and its repercussions. This led to a new and widespread belief in, and awareness of, the importance of medicine – a belief and awareness that is restoring its status and its vital role in protecting humanity.

“But we cannot build the world, and our lives, by simply focusing on one area without also focusing on others. We can only build in this way when all your specializations come together.”

The virtual Convocation ceremony saw graduates who have excelled in fields ranging from medicine, engineering, computing, art and design, and communications to Islamic studies, international affairs, humanities and social sciences, and business share in a collective celebration of what they have learned and achieved within QF’s ecosystem of education, within which they have been equipped to be leaders, innovators, and change-makers.