(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The QS MAPLE Conference and Exhibition co-hosted by Qatar University (QU) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ended with the presentation of the QS Scholarship Award and the QS Stars Certificate.
Scholarship awardees were QU students first-year computer science Nihal Abdulrahiman (GPA 3.92) and first-year engineering Esraa el Din (GPA 3.75).
QS Stars Certificates were awarded to University of Santo Tomas, Philippines (4 stars), Ain Shams University, Egypt (3 stars), and Effat University, KSA (3 stars).
The award ceremony followed a packed programme that included the second QS2 debate of the conference on the motion "Private universities are more effective in partnering with industry than their publicly-funded counterparts". Results before the presentations and floor discussion showed 41 percent in favour to 59 percent opposed. Final results following were 40 percent in favour, 60 percent opposed.
Keynote addresses were delivered by University of Groningen president Prof Dr Sibandes Poppema on "How a university can combine top research, societal relevance and industry relations" and Academy for Academic Leadership senior consultant Dr Wyatt Hume on "Rankings relative to mission".
Discussion sessions on Day Two were presented in 4 tracks headlined respectively Quality Assurance and Accreditation; Learning, Teaching and the Student Experience; Managing Higher Education and Internationalization; Research Strategy, Knowledge Transfer and Innovation; and Graduate Employability and Employer Engagement. Participants included higher education experts and university faculty and specialists from education-related organizations from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, US, and Vietnam.
Summer School Session highlighted the growing business of summer school education around the world. Opening the session CEO QS Asia Mandy Mok pointed to the upcoming QS MAPLE Summer School Summit which she said is a networking forum that brings practitioners together to discuss the building of partnerships among universities to offer exchange student programs during the summer.
In her closing remarks, QU President Prof Sheikha Abdulla Al Misnad said: "It has been our pleasure to welcome you and to exchange ideas and experiences on areas that are special to our respective institutions and special to the social, political and economic dynamics of our respective regions. We learned that higher education is not just a matter of designing programs and building research - it is also about understanding the dictates of the development of our societies and working alongside it instead of in front of it. The 6th QS MAPLE Conference 2016 will be held at the UAE University (UAEU) in Dubai at a date to be announced. Final closing presentation was made by UAEU Provost Prof Mohamed Albaili giving an overview of the university and its development.
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