Doha, March 26 (QNA) - The Community College of Qatar (CCQ) officially opened its Al Khor Campus on Tuesday, in response to the increasing demand for its academic offerings. The new campus, spread across three buildings, adds 41 classrooms, 11 science and computer labs, and a state-of-the-art testing center to the College's capacity. Further augmenting the on-campus experience is a range of modern facilities, including 28 offices, three fully-equipped clinics, a multipurpose meeting room, a well-resourced teachers' lounge, and numerous green areas throughout the premises. On the sidelines of the opening, HE Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Wahed Al Hammadi said: "CCQ is one of the essential educational institutions in Qatar and one that presents students with a wide range of unique educational paths. Recently, we have noticed a significant increase in the number of students enrolling at the College, which reached about 5,000 in Doha, and that presented the need to open new campuses in other regions, in order to provide CCQ's educational services to the residents of these areas." His Excellency added: "The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has focused in its strategy on promoting higher education and increasing the number of universities, colleges, and educational opportunities available in all disciplines, in order for youngsters to join the higher education institution of their choice." HE Dr Al Hammadi said that in the past five years, higher education institutes have increased from 16 to 26 universities and colleges, military and civil. 

His Excellency said this increase serves and gives various opportunities to students. His Excellency stressed the ministry's efforts to strengthen the role of the private sector in establishing f universities and colleges to meet the needs of the community in bachelor and graduate degrees in various disciplines, pointing at the same time that the ministry is currently discussing the possibility of opening branches of Arab universities in Doha. His Excellency said there is ongoing coordination between the ministry and the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs on scholarships, the needs of the job market and facilitating students. His Excellency added that both entities follow a one window policy where the student electronically applies and also receives approval electronically. His Excellency said the ministry is working to stimulate the private sector to establish schools according to the needs of the State, adding that 11 land plots were put before the private sector to compete for the establishment of schools according to the US, British, Arab and Indian curricula and that there are more land being put forward successively. His Excellency said that the ministry receives many requests to increase school fees by private schools "owned by investors who want to profit," but deals with these requests according to specific controls and so as not to harm the owners of schools and parents. The ministry determines the increase in accordance with developments in the school with regards to the buildings, equipment, teachers' salaries and other issues, noting that fees vary from school to school, giving parents the opportunity to choose the best for their children, His Excellency said. 

On CCQ's leading role in providing the labor market in Qatar with qualified national competencies in various sector, HE Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr Ibrahim Saleh Al Naimi said: "The number of CCQ graduates has reached around one thousand a year, who now serve the various sectors in the country and successfully join many of the important state institutions, including the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, as well as other agencies and governmental bodies through the College's specialized degree programs. The choice of Al Khor for the new CCQ campus is an excellent choice, as the College is now the first and only higher education institution in the region. 

The strategic importance of the city of Al-Khor comes from its proximity to the industrial and energy sectors, which represent an important value for the national economy, and that makes us confident that the College will utilize its specialized academic programs, as well as its dedicated professional training facility at the new campus in cooperation with concerned authorities, to become a major provider of qualified national cadres in Qatar." CCQ President Dr Mohamed Al Naemi praised the ministry's unwavering support to the college and the entire higher education sector in Qatar. The CCQ President elaborated: "Throughout our incredible journey of transformation from one campus and 300 students in 2010, to becoming the fastest growing educational institution in the country with five campuses and 5,000 full-time students, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has been a strategic partner in our relentless pursuit of academic excellence. Today, we proudly celebrate together another milestone in our expansion strategy with the official opening of our fifth campus in Al Khor." He added: "This state-of-the-art establishment is the fruition of the thoughtful planning, collective effort, and meticulous execution of our dedicated CCQ family. We paid attention to our students' needs every step of the way, to deliver on our promise of providing them with the highest standards of education and a holistic learning experience that is second-to-none. 

We are confident that our Al Khor campus will be home to many more of CCQ's success stories and will nurture yet another generation of our nation's future leaders." The college's fifth campus brings its wide range of quality programs and world-class education services to students in the North of Qatar, boosting the institution's collective teaching capacity across the country in response to the increasing demand for its academic offerings. The college expansion plan includes a new campus in Al-Wakra to serve the residents of the southern region. Through its various campuses in Qatar, CCQ provides the community with a diverse range of specialized academic programs that include two-year associate degrees in arts, applied arts, science, and applied science, in addition to high-demand 2+2 bachelor degree programs that cover a multitude of sought-after fields. (QNA)