In 2015, Qatar Foundation will no doubt mark its 20th anniversary with a series of eye-catching events that have become synonymous with the organisation spearheading Qatar’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy.

Appropriately, leading the foundation during this year of celebration will be Saad al-Muhannadi, who was appointed its president in September 2013. Along with Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Misned, whose brainchild is the Qatar Foundation, Al-Muhannadi has played a central role in the organisation’s development since its inception in 1995.

We are… reviewing what we have done, to learn from the experiences we have had with our partners

He joined as project manager for capital projects, before being promoted to assistant director and later, in 2005, to his former role as vice-president of capital projects and facilities management. His imprint is on all Qatar Foundation’s tangible assets as the man responsible for the planning, design, construction and maintenance of the 15 million-square-metre Education City complex on the western edge of Doha.

Exceeding expectations

“Qatar Foundation has gone way, way beyond what was expected in terms of achievement and in terms of quality of the achievement,” says Al-Muhannadi as he reflects with MEED on the past 20 years. “We have the most sophisticated and beautiful infrastructure that does not exist anywhere else and, in terms of human capital achievement, we have helped more than 2,000 students graduate from the most elite universities in the world.

“We have had 1,000 Qatari graduates and we could not have dreamt to have that number. Also K-12 education has really risen to be an example for elsewhere in the country and the region, and that’s a huge achievement.”

Not long ago a barren patch of desert, Education City is today home to branches of eight leading international universities including the US’ Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M, and the UK’s University College London, offering a broad spectrum of graduate and postgraduate programmes. These are all aligned to the core needs of a modern economy, schooling young people in subjects such as petroleum engineering, medical sciences and the arts. The teaching language is English and the focus is on critical analysis rather than rote learning, which is traditionally used in the Middle East.

The universities are housed in buildings designed by world-renowned architects, among them Arata Isozaki and Cesar Pelli, creating an unparalleled teaching environment. The site has the largest collection of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-rated (LEED-rated) buildings in the Middle East.

An unofficial estimate suggests more than $10bn has been spent on developing the site, which is also home to a series of community development projects such as Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, Qatar Diabetes Association and Qatar National Library, along with the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) – a $600m business incubator and technology research centre.

Research ambitions

QSTP’s many member firms include France’s Total, Siemens of Germany and UK-based stem cell firm Virgin Health Bank. A further boost to Qatar’s research ambitions will come with the completion of the $2.3bn Sidra Medical & Research Centre. Alongside those working in the 400-bed hospital, a 500-600 strong team of researchers will be investigating medical conditions pertinent to the Arab world at Sidra. The centre has been established with a $7.9bn endowment and is expected to be completed in the coming months, although an exact date is not being given.

Al-Muhannadi is particularly proud of the progress Qatar Foundation has made on the research front. “We have created that buzz,” he says. “We are not yet there to culture and harvest this, but education and research are long-term investments.”

In 2008, the Qatari authorities demonstrated their determination to build a strong and sustainable knowledge economy by 2030 by committing 2.8 per cent of annual government revenue to fund research.

Qatar Foundation plays a leading role in supporting this initiative; each of the universities that set up at Education City is obliged to conduct research. The foundation also disburses grants through the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). In 2013, under the sixth cycle of the National Priorities Research Programme, one of QNRF’s grant programmes, the fund awarded $121m to 137 research projects. Many of the grants go to support the research endeavours of the various universities at Education City. In July, for example, Texas A&M in Qatar was awarded $31.7m in research funding.

Al-Muhannadi attributes Qatar Foundation’s clear success to the fact that it has stayed focused on its core objectives.

“The idea of Qatar Foundation as the principle was there from the start – that investing in the human commodity is the most important thing,” he says. “[The aim was] introducing quality educational programmes and building research to be part of our culture. That is why we are so keen on mandating that every programme and initiative of Qatar Foundation has to have research and development and quality be part of it.”

Global backing

Qatar Foundation has also benefited from extensive international support. This is most evident in the branch campuses that have been set up at Education City, but also in the well-attended global conferences that Doha hosts in the fields of education, research and healthcare. The second World Innovation Summit for Health, due to be held on 17-18 February 2015, expects to attract 1,000 participants to discuss topics such as mental health in young people and diabetes.

“We have a wealth of resources across the globe from people interested in helping Qatar Foundation advance, and that is really a great plus,” says Al-Muhannadi.

The next 20 years are likely to see less frenetic expansion, with the foundation instead building on what it has already achieved. A review of its operations is currently under way. “We grew so fast in a very short time with huge ambitions,” says Al-Muhannadi. “Now, we are refocusing and reviewing what we have done, to learn from the experiences we have had with our partners, and we are putting together the plans for the future.”

He says Qatar Foundation will refocus on its three core pillars of education, research and community development.

“In the past 20 years, we had to do things that were not aligned with these pillars to complete the ecosystem that enabled us to deliver our projects because the country at that time in terms of bylaws, policies and a lot of fundamentals was not there,” says Al-Muhannadi. “Now, I think the country has really developed to a level where we don’t have to go beyond what is mandated from Qatar Foundation.

“Our focus will really be to accelerate the educational programmes and research; this is the most important thing. If we can achieve the targets that have been set in terms of culturing quality research programmes, that will be a huge achievement in the [next] 20 years.”

New university programmes will be added to Hamad bin Khalifa University, the umbrella name given to the branch campuses at Education City, but these will be home-grown programmes that suit the needs of the local economy, rather than transplants from overseas.

“There are quite a few programmes that the market is in need of here to complete the ecosystem of the educational system that we have for our young people,” says Al-Muhannadi. “A couple of them are coming very soon – I hope this year or the next. Whenever there is the need for the nation to have such a programme, we will be more than happy to look at how to develop it.”

As for developing infrastructure, he says 70-80 per cent of construction work is now complete. One major project still to be delivered that will transform the campus is the 11.5-kilometre people-mover system due for completion by the end of 2016. It will remove all private traffic from Education City.

A main station will connect the network with the under-construction Doha Metro and the planned GCC railway, which will help to increase the appeal of Hamad bin Khalifa University around the region. Education City will also accommodate one of the stadiums that will host matches during the 2022 Fifa World Cup. It is hoped this too will achieve a LEED rating.

Sustainable future

To support the goals of Qatar’s National Vision 2030 of creating a diversified and sustainable economy, Qatar Foundation also needs to ensure its operations are sustainable in a future without hydrocarbons. This will be the key area of focus for Al-Muhannadi as president.

“There was an endowment established for Qatar Foundation and this was sized based on a long-term vision, and where we would like to reach in 20 years, and we are supposed to be self-sustained in less than 10 years,” he says. “That is why the review is happening: to find out whether we have done what we have done smartly enough in terms of funds and whether we can do better in the next 20 years.

“The support we get from our founder and the government is tremendous. They have [given] us a kick-start, and now we are refining that and reviewing things to make sure what we do is sustainable in terms of financials and in terms of human capital to ensure we are going to be here for some time to come.”