University Roots and Branches between ‘Glocalization’ and ‘Mondialisation’: Qatar’s (Inter)National Universities

Qatar’s higher education system is growing rapidly, as science in the Islamic world witnesses a contemporary renaissance. Steering a course toward becoming a “knowledge society,” Qatar and other countries in the Arabian Gulf region are now home to dozens of universities. The establishment of many international offshore, satellite or branch campuses further emphasizes the international dynamism of higher education development there. The remarkable expansion of higher education in Qatar builds upon unifying two distinct strategies, both prevalent in capacity-building attempts worldwide. Firstly, Qatar seeks to cultivate human capital domestically through massive infrastructure investment and development of educational structures, including Qatar University. Secondly, Qatar seeks to match the strongest global universities through direct importation of existing organizational capacity, faculty and staff, and accumulated reputation. Local capacity in higher education and scientific productivity is built simultaneously with the on-going import of ideas and talent from different regions of the world. The relative youth of the higher education system and the state’s small geographic and demographic size are being compensated by considerable investments in the standard-bearing university—a national university taking root—simultaneously with hosting branches of eminent foreign higher education institutions, mainly on the Education City campus. Exemplifying extreme glocalization and mondialisation, Qatar has become a regional hub, bridging the traditional university strongholds in the West and the rising powerhouses in the East.