VCU board approves establishment of branch campus in Qatar

By Melissa Jones

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University’s Board of Visitors today (Feb. 8) approved plans for the establishment of a branch campus in Doha, Qatar, that will offer bachelor of fine arts degrees in fashion design, interior design and graphic design.

Pending approval of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, VCU expects to offer the BFA degrees in the design areas in spring 2002. The branch campus will be known as the VCU-Qatar College of Design Arts.

"We’re very excited about this development as it moves us toward our goal to increase VCU’s presence in international education," said VCU President Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D., who is a member of the board of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. "In addition, it has the significant benefit of providing Qatari students – particularly female students – with outstanding opportunities to work in design fields in the public and private sectors."

In 1997, the Qatar Foundation selected the VCU School of the Arts as its partner in developing the Shaqab College of Design Arts. Foundation officials attributed their selection of VCU’s School of the Arts to the school’s national ranking as one of the top art and design schools in the country. The Shaqab College of Design Arts enrolled its first class in 1998, was accredited by the Qatar Ministry of Education in May 2000 and will graduate its first class next year.

While the college’s curriculum has been developed and taught by a group of about 20 VCU faculty, up to now VCU course credit and degrees have not been offered. VCU’s decision to assume full responsibility for the program and award degrees came after a series of on-site visits and assessments made by President Trani and other top VCU administrators.

By its third year of operation, 129 students were enrolled in the Shaqab College of Design Arts, which is on track to meet the college’s five-year projection of 200 students. The majority of students are from Qatar, with additional students from the countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. Currently all the students are female.

"Word of the VCU-Qatar partnership’s instructional excellence is spreading rapidly throughout the Gulf region," said Roderick J. McDavis, Ph.D., VCU provost and vice president for academic affairs. "Qatari officials believe that all graduates of the first class in 2002 will find great success as they seek work in the private sector."

VCU has made no financial investments in the college. The Qatar Foundation funds all operational costs associated with the program, including the construction of a 70,000-square-foot building, designed and equipped to VCU’s specifications. The Foundation also funds the salaries of visiting professors on VCU’s Richmond campus who fill the full- and part-time positions of permanent VCU faculty who are selected for temporary assignments in Qatar.

"Establishing this college is an effort that our faculty have deeply enjoyed," said Richard Toscan, Ph.D., dean of the School of the Arts. "We’re particularly impressed with the students’ performance in the college’s first-year foundation courses and in their individual work as they begin their majors."

The offerings at the VCU-Qatar College of Design Arts will mirror those of the Richmond campus. Variations in instruction may involve an expansion of interdisciplinary instructional approaches and the incorporation of cultural design and issues relevant to the Gulf region, including Arabic letter forms as well as regional traditions in clothing, visual arts and architecture.

VCU arts students participate in international exchange and seminar programs with a number of countries in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Europe and Australia. Several Qatari students have transferred from Doha to VCU’s Richmond campus, and several Richmond students have expressed interest in studying in Doha.

Qatar is a peninsula nation that borders Saudi Arabia and sits in the Arabian Gulf. The Qatar Foundation was established as a private, non-profit initiative to contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the country.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts is one of the largest in the United States. Its programs have been ranked among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report.