Doha, Qatar: Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Community College of Qatar (CCQ), Dr. Abdullah Al Ali, revealed the launch of three new academic programmes during the current academic year. These include a Bachelor of Border Management and Supply Chain, an Associate Degree in Artificial Intelligence, and an Associate Degree in Digital Media.
He noted that the college is actively working to introduce additional programmes in business administration, financial technology (FinTech), unmanned vehicle systems, and robotics and automation engineering technology.
In an interview with QNA, Dr. Al Ali explained that these programmes come as part of the college’s response to the current and future needs of the labour market.
He pointed out that CCQ relies on an evidence- and data-driven institutional methodology to establish new programmes, develop existing ones, or freeze them, linking these decisions to labour market demands, national priorities, offerings by other local higher education institutions, programmes performance indicators, output quality, and sustainability.
He added that the process of creating new programmes begins by monitoring present and future job market requirements and leveraging feedback from employers and relevant national entities, including the Annual Employers Forum, alongside evaluating market demand, potential career opportunities, and the programme’s long-term significance.
Dr. Al Ali emphasized that the college conducts annual evaluations of its academic programmes using a range of indicators, such as enrolment trends, average student numbers, retention rates, and completion rates.
Assessments also consider alignment with national priorities and labour market needs, quality, effectiveness, resource efficiency, and sustainability, based on which institutional decisions are made to retain, refine, or discontinue a programme.
He outlined that the college follows two main tracks to launch new programmes: a strategic track arising from CCQ’s vision and studies of the country’s future labour market needs, and a specialized track designed upon request from external agencies and institutions to train their personnel.
He added that the college executes programmes in cooperation with entities such as the General Authority of Customs, the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
He explained that the specialized programme track features rapid response times, working with requesting bodies to develop and launch a programme within six months, and in some cases, as quickly as three months, depending on the nature of the programme and required procedures.
In the context of empowering national talent, Dr. Al Ali stated that Qatari academics currently constitute about 25 percent of CCQ’s total academic staff. He noted that the “Academic Competence” initiative, launched in 2023, has attracted more than 20 Qatari academics.
He added that 14 current members of the initiative are pursuing graduate studies at the master’s and doctoral levels in local and international universities, while others have completed their studies and returned to the college. He stressed that the goal extends beyond recruiting national talent to developing, qualifying, retaining, and preparing them for future academic and leadership roles. —
