Virginia Commonwealth University - Qatar

Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) is Virginia Commonwealth University’s Qatari branch of its School of the Arts. The main campus is located in Richmond, Virginia. VCUarts Qatar is located at Education City in Doha, Qatar.

The main entrance of VCUarts Qatar. This is part of the new building, which was completed in 2010.

VCUarts Qatar is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art & Design, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Council for Interior Design Accreditation.^[1]

History[]

VCUarts Qatar was the first campus established in Education City in 1998.^[2] It has since been joined by Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Weill Cornell Medical College, Texas A&M, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, HEC Paris, and University College London. VCUarts Qatar renewed its contract in July 2012 and it is in effect through June 2022.^[2]

Funding[]

VCUarts Qatar is funded by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, a semi-private non-profit organization founded by then-emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his second wife and mother of current emir, Moza bint Nasser.

Aside from funding of the campus in Qatar and the management fee that the university receives as profit, universities who agree to open branches in Qatar are often the recipients of endowed chairs at the U.S. campuses.^[3]

In 2014, the estimated budget of VCUarts Qatar provided to VCU by Qatar Foundation was nearly $42 million. On top of that, undergraduate tuition was almost $25,000.^[4]

Degrees offered[]

VCUarts Qatar offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, and painting & printmaking, a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in design.^[1]

Transcripts from VCUarts Qatar indicate that the courses were completed in Qatar, but the diploma is issued by VCU in Richmond, Virginia.^[5]

Student life[]

VCUarts Qatar has 379 students representing 36 nationalities between its undergraduate and graduate students.^[1]

The university was originally opened for women, but in 2008 began also accepting men.^[3]

Per VCU's agreement with Qatar Foundation, at least 70% of admitted students must be Qatari citizens.^[2]

Since Qatar adheres to a strict form of Islam called Wahhabism, standards for social conduct are much stricter and more conservative.^[3]

Alcohol is strictly regulated by the State of Qatar. Only individuals with a permit allowing them to purchase alcohol from Qatari authorized vendors are allowed to possess or consume alcohol. Consumption of alcohol is forbidden to all Muslims.^[6] These policies, in part, create a much more regulated and conservative student life experience than at VCU's campus in Richmond.

Facilities[]

In 2010, a major expansion project allowed VCUarts Qatar to more than double its facilities, integrating its undergraduate and graduate programs under one roof. The expansion also extended the technical spaces to include a media lab, digital fabrication lab, printmaking studios, a photography studio, an expanded library and the region's first materials library.^[1]

Criticism[]

Along with other U.S. campuses in Education City, a campus in Qatar has a certain reputational risk associated with it. Not only do they risk devaluing the degrees of their U.S. campus, but the campus also ties them to a regime with extensive critics and foreign policy that runs contrary to that of the United States.^{[7][failed verification]} Qatar's ties to terrorist and extremist groups such as Al Qaeda, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrible human rights record, and World Cup 2022 corruption allegations have drawn heavy criticism to US universities there.^{[neutrality is disputed][7][8][failed verification]}

Recently, with the visit of First Lady Michelle Obama, US scholar and analyst David Andrew Weinberg called on schools in Education City to speak out against radicalism being spread through Education City's main mosque. Speakers at the mosque have called for the mass murder of "infidels" and described the Charlie Hebdo shootings and 9/11 as series of "comedy films". Many of these statements go against accepted policies on freedom of speech at the US campuses of universities such as VCU.^[9]

U.S. public universities in Qatar including VCU, Texas A&M and Houston Community College, who recently scaled back its Qatari operations after potential violation of state education code and lower revenues than expected, have all received criticism for their Qatari campuses. The criticisms have focused on how the abroad campuses go against the institutions' obligations to educate American students, or students within their local districts.^[10] Some have criticised them for using resources, such as professors that should be in the American branch campuses, that should be utilised towards educating American students.^[11] While VCU does not use Virginia taxpayer dollars to fund the campus, they do sometimes send professors from their home campus to Doha for shorter term teaching positions.^[2]

Freedom of Speech[]

In Qatar, the monarchy has virtually absolute authority over all aspects of life, including its strict adherence to Sharia. There are also strict censorship laws that at times have spilled over into Education City, despite the assurances that the institutions there have total academic and intellectual freedoms.^[7]

In 2014, a book by VCUarts Qatar's English professor, Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, Love Comes Later was banned by the State of Qatar with no clear explanation whatsoever.^[7] Rajakumar has claimed that she wrote the book with the Qatari "sensibilities of the public culture" in mind, meaning that the book did not include "the big three objections: sex, atheism, and politics". She is also the founder of Doha Writer's Workshop.^[12]

Some art that has been displayed at VCUarts Qatar has had to be taken down as some Qatari students found it to be disrespectful to their culture, an issue that reflects the differences in conservatism and social practices that are present^{[clarification needed]} at the Qatari campus.^{[2][failed verification]}

Leadership[]

Administration:

• Amir Berbić - Dean
• Donald N. Baker - Executive Dean
• Cherif Amor – Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
• Andrew Mascari– Associate Dean for Administration
• Valerie Jeremijenko – Assistant Dean of Student Affairs
• Greet Provoost – Assistant Dean of Enrollment and Registration Services

The school is advised by a Joint Advisory Board, which per the agreement with Qatar Foundation must be composed of three members appointed by each VCU and Qatar Foundation and three independent members which are jointly appointed by VCU and Qatar Foundation.^[2]

References[]