Vice President of QU Health and Medical Sciences: QU Seeks to Establish Pioneering Educational System to Meet Needs of Country's Health Sector

Doha, October 17 (QNA) - Vice President for Health and Medical Sciences at Qatar University (QU) Prof. Asma Al-Thani affirmed that QU seeks to lead health and medical education, through the establishment of an integrated educational system that meets the country's needs and national priorities in the health sector according to the highest international standards. In an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), Prof. Asma Al-Thani said that the health and medical sciences sector at Qatar University, which encompasses five colleges (Medicine, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health Sciences, and Nursing), seeks to be a pioneering sector in the fields of interprofessional health education and interdisciplinary health research. She added that the establishment of an integrated educational system in the national health sector is at the forefront of the strategic priorities of the health and medical sciences sector at QU, in response to the country's national strategy with regard to building a sustainable health system commensurate with the needs of the health sector in the country and in line with the highest international standards. In this context, she explained that the academic programs in the sector were designed in accordance with the best international practices in medical and health education and academic accreditation in a manner commensurate with the requirements of the labor market, adding that this includes programs of research-informed curricula based on professional competencies inspired by the health needs of the population of the State of Qatar and the requirements and priorities of the national health system.. She noted that the philosophy and methodology of teaching, learning and training in the health and medical sciences sector is student-centered through strategies of interactive learning methods and the use of blended learning methods including problem-based learning and project creation, interdisciplinary health learning, multidisciplinary medical team-based learning and informed learning by clinical practice. She emphasized the sector's keenness to ensure that all students have excellent opportunities to develop themselves and hone their skills, through the application of the best practices in digitization-enhanced, experiential and pioneering learning. She added that through this philosophy, the sector aims to support students and encourage them to acquire skills that open up avenues for excellence after graduation, such as effective communication, positive contribution to health professional teams, critical thinking and the principle of evidence-based conclusion. Prof. Asma Al-Thani also noted that the sector provides students with a rich experience to develop their clinical competencies from an early stage in a safe virtual environment in clinical training centers, under the supervision of a clinical faculty with extensive professional experience, followed by practical and clinical training courses in health care institutions to hone their clinical competencies. She pointed to the expansion witnessed by the sector over the past five years in faculties, which increased from three to five, in addition to the establishment of inter-graduate programs that serve all faculties with the aim of achieving integration, to ensure the optimal investment of resources, as well as achieving excellence in launching the Interprofessional Education Passport (IPE) passport to be the primary health reference for all students, which will positively affect their personal and professional skills, and inspire them to be competent leaders capable of making positive changes in the health sector in the State of Qatar. In this context, she pointed out that the integration between education, health care and scientific research is one of the most important features of the health sector strategy, noting that this integration means harnessing all possibilities to provide students with the highest levels of knowledge in the corridors of the university and clinical skill in the corridors of hospitals within the latest developments in scientific research. She indicated that achieving this integration ensures the excellence of the graduate, and this is the core of the comprehensive strategy of Qatar University. Prof. Asma Al-Thani stated that excellence in research outputs for the health and medical sciences sector at Qatar University was reflected in its international classification, where pharmacy and pharmacology were ranked 201-250, medicine 301-350, while in the clinical and health field ranked 176-200 on the global level, according to the latest version of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2021. Regarding the number of current students in the health and medical sciences sector, Vice President for Health and Medical Sciences at Qatar University (QU) Prof. Asma Al-Thani told QNA that the number exceeds 1,800 male and female students, 545 in the College of Medicine, 130 in Dental Medicine, 382 in Pharmacy, and 51 in Nursing, and 729 students in the specializations of the College of Health Sciences, noting that the percentage of Qataris in some specialties reaches more than 60 percent, as is the case in dentistry. She noted the efforts of Qatar University in attracting Qatari students to health and medical specializations, adding that the university has a strategy to attract students based on three pillars, represented in high school visits and projects of the Empower Generations Consortium, encouraging Qatari students to enroll in scholarships and clarifying their advantages. She indicated that the absorptive capacity of these faculties is determined by the capacity of the university's classrooms and laboratories on the one hand, and the training sites and the requirements of the labor market on the other, noting that the faculties of medicine and dentistry accept 100 students annually, while the College of Pharmacy provides 60 seats, and nursing between 60 and 100 students per year. There are bout 100 seats in health sciences as a total for the four majors of biomedical sciences, human nutrition, public health, and physical therapy, while the sector accommodates 15 to 20 students annually in graduate programs, she added. Vice President for QU Health and Medical Sciences said that these numbers are subject to increase when all facilities for the health and medical education sector are completed, noting in this context that the university is seeking to establish two other buildings, in addition to the Ibn Al-Bitar building, which opened about a year ago, one of which will start construction work next year, while the other is under study. As for the teaching hospital, she confirmed that the hospital is one of the important facilities for students in the sector that the university seeks to achieve. She said that there is support and agreement on the need to establish a university teaching hospital, but the picture is still unclear regarding time. QU is working with partners in the Ministry of Health and Hamad Medical Corporation on an ongoing basis to make the best decisions in this regard, she added. She stated that the training of students of the five colleges takes place inside the university facilities, as well as in primary health care centers, hospitals of Hamad Medical Corporation, Sidra Medicine, and the Ministry of Public Health, each according to the requirements of the specialization, in addition to cooperation with institutions outside the country in some specialties. In a related context, she pointed out that the university has distinguished medical facilities similar to the training facilities for dental students, to upgrade their clinical skills, which are the most advanced in the world. She also pointed out that a new academic dental training center is currently being built in Hazm Mebaireek, and will be operational by January 2023. As for attracting Qatari cadres to this sector, she confirmed that the health and medical sciences sector has invested in promoting talent development and retention and supporting capacity building programs to meet the university’s requirements and national needs, in line with Qatar University’s strategy and its goal to assume a leading role in shaping and enabling the transformation process in the higher education system in the country. She said that this is achieved on the ground by attracting and employing talented Qatari teaching assistants in all member colleges, noting that the health sector supports their professional and academic development by providing opportunities to obtain scholarships for graduate studies, through the scholarship office and capacity building to pursue their higher studies, including the PhD from internationally leading academic institutions and their appointment in the various departments of the faculties. She confirmed that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of Qatari faculty members in leadership, administrative and coordination positions. On the level of cooperation with the medical sector in the country in training, rehabilitation and scientific research, Prof. Asma Al-Thani pointed out in her interview with QNA that the health and medical sciences sector at Qatar University participates in many research projects, in cooperation with the health sector in the country and Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar with the aim of promoting and enabling applied and innovative medical research. QU's close and integrated research cooperation with partners has resulted in a large number of research publications in prestigious scientific journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), she said. She also indicated that Qatar University is working closely with the Ministry of Public Health in many advisory projects, to provide advice based on modern scientific evidence to help policy makers keep abreast of the latest scientific discoveries that may change the treatment of diseases and control their symptoms and spread. She noted that the health care sector in Qatar is global in terms of knowledge diversity and quality standards, forcing students to measure their performance with practices applied in the health care sector to achieve Qatar Vision 2030 in the health sector. She emphasized that the university's current orientation is focused on global experiences that have a longer legacy in the field of medical and health education to activate more integration and cooperation in the world and the region, especially in the fields of medical research. As part of its endeavors to enhance partnership with the health sectors in the country, she said that Qatar University signed a number of memoranda of understanding with a number of different local, regional and international bodies, and medical school at Qatar University. Prof. Asma Al-Thani said that such agreements provide the group's members with valuable opportunities in training, professional, academic and research development, and are only the cornerstone of a strong relationship with the university that will positively affect the level of health care provided and is in line with the national priorities of the State of Qatar. She pointed out that the health and medical sciences sector contributes greatly to providing health care institutions in the country with medical and health cadres, as Hamad Medical Corporation has been supplied with two batches of College of Medicine graduates. She explained that among the sector's development plans, the focus is on postgraduate programs of a clinical nature in cooperation with Hamad Medical Corporation, similar to the higher specialization in dentistry and nursing. She added that there are plans to be developed in partnership with a higher committee that was formed by HE the Minister of Public Health, which includes the most important leaders of the academic sector at the university and leaders of the health sector, noting that this coordination ensures the prioritization of programs in order to serve the needs of the health sector in the country and the design of study plans jointly to ensure the best qualification of graduates, which contributes to the placement of our graduates in the labor market. She told QNA that Qatar University is hosting the 11th International Conference on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (All Together Better Health 11), which is scheduled to be held in November 2023, for the first time in the Middle East region. The conference, which is held every two years, is expected to attract more than 500 participants from health and social care professionals, medical education professors, policy makers and students. (QNA)