Okay.......

[patgund]

The sign must be new, because it wasn't there when I was working there....

American education thriving ... in Qatar

"It looks like an American college campus, except for those little things like - a sign by the gate that admonishes undergraduates to "Please Remind Your Maids That They Are Not Allowed Beyond the Entrance." Or the fact that although nearly everyone is wearing jeans, you'd never know it because most are covered by full-length abayas and dishdashas.

Welcome to Education City - Qatar's 2,500-acre answer to getting a top US education without giving up your mom's pampering, your maid's cooking, or your weekend camel races.

Taking globalization of higher education to new heights, five American universities, including Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown, have opened satellite campuses here in the past few years, employing some of the same professors as at their stateside campuses, demanding the same tuition, and - theoretically - providing the same education."

I was amused to note one of the students they talked to, a "a young mother and second-year interior design student" at Virginia Commonwealth University's Doha campus. Namely one Al Anood Nasser al-Thani. Nasser is one of the high families in Qatar (the Emir's primary consort and the woman who runs Education City is a Nasser), and al-Thani is, of course, the Qatari royal family and the family that owns and runs the majority of Qatar. I suspect Ms. Al Anood Nasser al-Thani could have gone anywhere she wanted even after marriage.......

Comments

[omcintyre.livejournal.com]

Just goes to show the lengths a country/state/community/company will go to impeove it's appearance to the outside world. It also shows that despite their attempt to seem like they are affording their people with the wonderful opportunity of getting a top rate education in their own country, how many of their citizens can actually afford to go to university or get some type of secondary education (or primary, even)? I've seen it in other countries as well. If you get the chance you should ask JJMACCRIMMON about his experience when he was in the Middle East and the skeleton cities. Amazing.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Qatar's a little different from KSA in that women can vote, drive, hold office, work, etc. Plus, unlike the Saudi royal family, Qatar distributes their oil and natural gas revenues among their citizens, and pays for both women and men to go to college. So, at least in Qatar, citizens do have that chance. Of course, the citizen base there is less than 100,000 people, so they can afford to.

jj_maccrimmon and I traded stories back and forth while I was still living in Qatar. I think both of us have the same low opinion of KSA....

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

"Please Remind Your Maids That They Are Not Allowed Beyond the Entrance.

Is this more "Hey students, you need to carry your own books now" or "No dogs or Pakistanis allowed"?