QF academic highlights how HBKU has evolved as a hub of innovation

QF academic highlights how HBKU has evolved as a hub of innovation

As it marks its 10th anniversary, what Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has become reflects the role that Qatar Foundation (QF) envisioned for it: a university serving Qatar and its people as a pioneer in education, and a hub of research, innovation, and collaboration with a focus that is fully aligned with Qatar’s economic, social, and human needs.

Speaking about how HBKU came into being, and the place it would occupy within QF’s unique ecosystem of knowledge was identified, Francisco Marmolejo, president of Higher Education at QF, said: “Ten years ago, Qatar Foundation recognised the need to move the higher education we offer forward – to establish an institution that could complement our international partner universities that were already in place at Education City.

“Qatar Foundation had a vision for an institution that would aspire to be competitive on a global scale, while remaining highly relevant in a local context; able to produce the talents that Qatar needed in advanced fields; and also capable of conducting research activities in an effective way.”

Marmolejo explained that, at the time, although QF’s partner universities offered higher education programmes for undergraduate levels in specific fields, there remained a missing component – a component