Qatar's Education City is an epoch-setting initiative

One of the most significant steps in Qatar's educational history is the establishment of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development – Qatar's dedicated effort to "build a sustainable society" and "human capital" to "enhance the quality of life for all."

The flagship project of Qatar Foundation – the Education City – is an enterprise as unusual as it is momentous. An awe-inspiring succession of architecturally stunning buildings, the city stretches on a 1,000-hectare campus containing most of Qatar Foundation's member institutions. It currently houses half a dozen select American universities, numerous other educational, technical and technological institutions, as well as some of the world's heaviest funded research programs and their homes. As such, the city can be described as the world's most diverse campus.

The universities in the Education City offer Bachelors and Masters degrees in programs as diverse as fine arts, social sciences, medical sciences, engineering, business studies, computer science, journalism and communication. All of them are aided by technology such as online libraries, distance learning and streaming video etc, and offer a combination of live and digital education that is virtually indistinguishable in quality from that offered on the home campuses of these universities.

The quality of education imparted at the Education City universities can be gauged from the fact that Qatar has agreed to take a "hands-off" approach with regard to the management, content of course material and overall administration of the universities – an appreciably bold approach so essential for ensuring academic standards are the same as those found within the US.

The intellectual openness shown by Qatar while realizing the Education City is an extremely brave and commendable act. While it is certainly an unusual step in the Arab world, it shows Qatar's seriousness and commitment to bring 'real change' in the region. The city's openness to students from all communities, cultures and backgrounds is a further testimony of the sanctity of its purpose – the spread of knowledge and learning.

Though the original aim of Qatar Foundation was the educational, scientific and social uplift of Qatar's own people, it has come to fulfill the requirements of the large expatriate population of Qatar. In addition, prospective students from the rest of the world are also welcome. In fact, the project has already started serving as an ambitious center for education and research while only one-third of it has been completed. Hopefully, by the time the whole project completes (the end of the current decade or the first quarter of next) it will emerge as a focal point for education, science and technology.

At a time when its neighbors chose other sectors as the center of their focus, Qatar chose education, science and technology – the prerequisites for the development of the rest of sectors. This is a unique proposition that is a great service to not only the people of Qatar and the people in Qatar but to the whole humanity.

Education is a thing whose impact and influence can not be confined to one particular community or region. It is bound to spread throughout the width and breadth of civilization and enlighten all of humanity.

The light of education, science, art and architecture that took birth on Muslim lands centuries ago illuminated the whole world. Likewise, the when the Europeans took that academic and scientific excellence several steps forward, its impact could not be contained within Europe. It spread to every nook and cranny of the globe and brightened the life of whoever came in contact with it.

Similarly, the rebirth of that academic and scientific excellence in Qatar, though in its nascent stage of development, has the potential of taking education, science, technology, arts, architecture, civilization and culture a step forward. Thus, the founding of this venture is not only a service to the people of Qatar or the region, but to the whole humanity.

The establishment of Qatar Foundation is arguably the boldest step ever taken by an Arab country, especially as far as education reform is concerned. It does not only show the country's eagerness to utilize its natural wealth for the good of its people but also represents the sum total of the leadership's prudence and far-sightedness. It is an epoch that has the true potential of reclaiming the luster of Arab education after centuries in the dark ages.