Schools
There are a large number of private and international schools. Most expatriates and some Qataris choose to send their children to these schools. These schools (and curricula) include Qatar Academy (IB World School), Doha College (UK curriculum), American School of Doha, The Gulf English School (UK / IB curriculum), Doha Academy, Doha English Speaking School (UK primary curriculum), The International School of Choueifat, The Cambridge School, Dukhan English School, Park House English School, Compass International School, Qatar International School (UK Curriculum for England), MES Indian School and Ideal Indian School (CBSE), English Modern School, Philippine School Doha, Stafford Sri Lankan School Doha, Middle East International School, and Mesaieed International School.
The Vision International School in Al Wakrah will offer an American curriculum in grades PreK-12. It opened in September 2014.
As of January 2015, the International Schools Consultancy (ISC) listed Qatar as having 147 international schools. ISC defines an 'international school' in the following terms "ISC includes an international school if the school delivers a curriculum to any combination of pre-school, primary or secondary students, wholly or partly in English outside an English-speaking country, or if a school in a country where English is one of the official languages, offers an English-medium curriculum other than the country's national curriculum and is international in its orientation." This definition is used by publications including The Economist.
Educational Needs of Large Expatriate Work Force in Qatar
Expatriate workers have been playing their significant role in Qatar since 1940's. First ever expatriate workers include from Egypt, Palestine, Iran & Pakistan later joined by Indians and Bangladeshis in 1960s & 1970s. Onward 1990's, workers from Philippines, Nepal and Sri Lanka added in significant numbers in Qatar society. To meet the needs of Non-Arabic speaking expatriate children, Pak Shama School, a Pakistani community school was the first ever expatriate school opened in 1964 in Old Doha City, off AlAsmakh Street, opened by Edward Sardar and his wife (a Christian family from Sialkot district, Pakistan). Pak Shama School was affiliated with Lahore Educational Board. 2nd expatriate school Pakistani School was opened in 1967 later renamed in 1985 as Pakistan Educational Center (PEC). PEC is the first expatriate school, got school land in Abu Hamour District of Doha as gift from then ruler of State of Qatar H. H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad AlThani. Now, a number of expatriate communities have their own schools and having their own educational syllabus, however, these schools are operated under the guidelines of Ministry of Education of Qatar.
The country's national university is Qatar University, founded as a teachers' college in 1973. It currently has eight colleges, including Education, Business and Economics, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Sharia, Pharmacy, Law, and Medicine. Several universities from other countries have opened satellite campuses in the country. For example, some American universities have campuses at Education City. These include Cornell University, Weill Medical College, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Northwestern University in Qatar and Texas A&M University. Universities from Canada include College of the North Atlantic-Qatar and the University of Calgary-Qatar. There is branch of Dutch Stenden University in Qatar. HEC Paris was the first European partner to join Education City. University College London is the first British university to have opened a campus in Qatar. On top of that, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies is the graduate school and international center of excellence in Islamic Studies that is under the umbrella of Hamad Bin Khalifa University and attached to Qatar Foundation.