Venue: Carnegie Mellon University in Doha, Qatar
Travel Information
Visa Information
All required visa information can be found at the Doha Airport regulations page.
Traveling to Doha
Doha International Airport is located 5 km from Doha's city centre. The airport currently services 23 regional and international airlines and is the hub for Qatar Airways.
Information on Doha's airport can be found at dohaairport.com. Information on transportation means from the airport can be found here.
About Qatar/Doha
The State of Qatar is a small, oil rich country situated along the panoramic Arabian Gulf. Qatar is a peninsula that borders Saudi Arabia to the south and is separated by the sea from the United Arab Emirates in the southeast and Bahrain in the northwest. Once a flourishing culture of pearl diving, fishing and camel herding, Qatar is transforming into a knowledge-based and technologically advanced economy.
Its capital city of Doha is one of the fastest growing and most culturally diverse cities in the world. Of the 1.5 million people who call Qatar home, only about 300,000 are Qatari nationals. An expatriate workforce makes up nearly 75 percent of the country's inhabitants, most of whom live and work in Doha.
The thriving economy and influx of people from all over the world have created a country where tradition and modernization are juxtaposed. Old-style souq markets selling spices, handcrafts and falcons are only blocks away from upscale shopping malls whose shoppers driver luxury automobiles.
An Islamic nation, Qatar is just beginning to find its own identity. There is significant ongoing investment being made to develop the country's infrastructure and economic diversification including the development of Qatar's tourism industry. Leaders in Qatar are also working to make it the education and research hub of the Middle East.
As an up-and-coming a tourist destination, Qatar has many attractions including international five-star hotels, spas, resorts and outdoor sports. Its year-round sunshine provides an ideal climate to escape the northern hemisphere winters. The desert climate is made up of hot summers and relatively warm winters. In the summer, the temperature ranges between 25 and 46 degrees centigrade. Rainfall in the winter is minimal and on average does not exceed 75 mm per year.
Qatar is a family oriented country that has only had one act of terrorism in the last 30 years. It’s a quiet and safe place where there is religious freedom for all. People from various religions and walks of life live and work in harmony. Guests in Qatar are asked to dress in a conservative manner and respect Islamic culture. Arabic is the main language in Qatar, however English is widely spoken.
Qatar is ruled by the Al Thani family. His Highness the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani is the Head of the State of Qatar. His son, H.H. Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani is the Heir Apparent.
About Carnegie Mellon University
Scottish-American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie founded Carnegie Technical School in 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Aiming to educate the children of the many immigrants who relocated to Pittsburgh, “Carnegie Tech” transformed into Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1912. In 1967, Carnegie Technical School merged with the Mellon Institute, which was founded by businessman Andrew Mellon. This jointure led to the formation of Carnegie Mellon University.
At Carnegie Mellon, core values of innovation, creativity, problem solving and collaborative teamwork provide the foundation for everything we do. Guided by these values, Carnegie Mellon students experience a distinctive education that gives them tools to pioneer solutions through an approach that values both teamwork and leadership. The effect is both far-reaching and close to home. Its real-world impact is visible within our local communities, across the country and around the world.
Today, Carnegie Mellon is a Tier I research institution annually ranked among the world’s leading universities by independent sources such as U.S. News & World Report, Forbes Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Princeton Review. Its programs set the standard by which many other schools are now measured.
The university consists of seven schools and colleges: Carnegie Institute of Technology, College of Fine Arts, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, Mellon College of Science, School of Computer Science and the Tepper School of Business.
More than a century after its founding, Carnegie Mellon is a global university that is still guided by Andrew Carnegie’s words, “My heart is in the work.”
About Carnegie Mellon in Qatar
At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation has created a world-class center for scholarship that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon’s tradition of innovation through collaboration.
Education City is a 2,500-acre multiversity on the outskirts of the bustling city of Doha that houses state-of-the-art learning and research facilities. Six top American universities have set up branch campuses and more are planned. Students at all Education City universities can receive a broad and unique education through an agreement that allows them to take courses at any of the universities.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers its highly regarded undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems to students in Qatar and the Gulf Region.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar is a key component of Carnegie Mellon’s continuing mission to provide students around the world with the highest level of knowledge and preparedness for a changing world. Our time-honored standards of academic excellence are upheld globally. Students in Doha adhere to the same academic rigor as their counterparts in Pittsburgh, and they earn the same degrees.
Unique Curriculum
Carnegie Mellon University’s Business Administration, Computer Science and Information Systems programs are based on quantitative models. Following the distinctive Carnegie Plan, these programs require students to approach their studies in ways not done at other institutions.
The Carnegie Plan focuses on teaching problem-solving skills that are easily adaptable to ever-changing technologies and demands. Our educational plan focuses on mutual respect, teamwork, leadership, ethical behavior and a commitment to quality. Armed with a Carnegie Mellon degree, students in Qatar are prepared to take what they learn in the classroom and apply existing and anticipated issues in the real world.
A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and distinguished faculty who are highly regarded in their field. This affords students with exposure to leaders in business and creators of new technological trends.
Our Programs
Business Administration
Carnegie Mellon’s undergraduate Business Administration program, offered by the David A. Tepper School of Business, has earned national recognition in the United States for its approach to the study of business management as a science.
More than 50 years ago, the school’s leadership brought forth its vision of a better way to succeed in business. Management science – the academic alternative to the case study method – has its roots in analytical decision making in complex, dynamic business environments. Carnegie Mellon’s prevalence and popularity has had sweeping effects – today, nearly all leading business schools include some form of the Carnegie Mellon management science model in their curriculum.
Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science is known worldwide as an incubator of original thoughts and new ideas that have spawned some of the most exciting advances in the Computer Science field.
Rather than being limited by a narrow focus on programming alone, students in the Computer Science program at Carnegie Mellon learn skill sets that transcend technological trends. As different platforms become obsolete, the skills needed to develop these platforms continue to apply. This unique approach is what sets Carnegie Mellon apart from its peer institutions and what has enabled its remarkable history of innovation.
With a broad vision of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Qatar acts quickly to explore new directions, and we are fearless in pushing the frontiers of our field. Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive for our research style, our educational programs, our success at diversity, our culture and our organizational structure. It is the union of all these features, rather than any one of them, that truly distinguishes us.
Information Systems
The Information Systems program at Carnegie Mellon University is an internationally-recognized undergraduate major for students who want to design and implement effective solutions to meet organizational and management needs for information and decision support.
The program draws on a wide range of exciting college and university strengths, and its flexible nature encourages students to explore their own interests in a contemporary content area such as professional communications, organizations, global systems, business and economics.
At Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, the IS degree program is a natural complement to the two existing majors: Business Administration and Computer Science. Information Systems combines many of the technical aspects of Computer Science with the analytical and organizational skills of Business Administration in a way that yields real-world results.
Research and Robotics
Since its founding, Carnegie Mellon University has been dedicated to conducting cutting-edge research that has real-world applications. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon Qatar are actively engaged in developing the technology of tomorrow. Through funding project under Qatar Foundation’s umbrella, students have opportunities to work with faculty on research projects or work independently on a project in their specific field of interest. This encourages them to take their learning outside of the classroom and seek out new knowledge.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar successfully brought the Botball Robotics Challenge outside of the United States in 2005. Botball engages high school students in robotics through the use of science, technology, engineering and math. Each year Botball captures the imaginations and academic interest of hundreds of high school students in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
The Carnegie Mellon Building
In July 2008, Carnegie Mellon took occupancy of its new state-of-the-art building. Built by Qatar Foundation to Carnegie Mellon’s specifications, the expansive teaching and learning facility provides the ideal environment for Carnegie Mellon to deliver its world-class educations. The 460,000-square-foot building, which was designed by Mexican architects Legoretta+Legoretta, revolves around a three-story atrium and walkway that sits on one of the main green spines in Education City.
This design was purposeful in that students, staff and faculty will always cross paths in the building. Additionally, people walking around the Education City campus will have to walk through Carnegie Mellon. This interaction will foster a greater sense of community and collaboration between everyone in Education City.
Qatar Foundation
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a private, non-profit, chartered organization founded in 1995 aiming to develop and utilize human potential through a network of centers and campuses. In 1997 the foundation set out on a strategic plan to create an Education City that is composed of a number of research centers and progressive learning institutions.
In addition to Carnegie Mellon, this innovative educational model includes branch campuses of Texas A&M University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Georgetown University, Weill Cornell Medical College and Northwestern University. RAND-Qatar Policy Institute and Sidra Hospital are also on campus, and the Qatar Science and Technology Park, Al Shaqab Equestrian Center and a Convention Center are currently under construction.