News Updates
Student Orientation And Treasure Hunt
The Academic Bridge Program has started its new academic year with about 200 top caliber secondary school graduates who joined the program to develop their academic and personal qualifications in preparation for joining international English language universities.
Many students joined the program from various Qatari schools in addition to students from the region including UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Turkey, Aruba, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The administration and Student Services Department of the ABP cooperated to design an orientation program of five days to introduce students to the ABP and Education City in their first week. The orientation started with a gathering and detailed introduction of the program policies, rules and regulations and all academic information. Students were then introduced to the Liberal Arts & Sciences Building, home for the ABP. A presentation was given by the Student Life Division of Qatar Foundation followed by a window tour to explore the magnificent facilities and universities of Education city. This helps students to merge with their new environment which is more like a university than a high school.
Dr Miles Lovelace, new Director of the Academic Bridge Program (ABP), announced that, for the first time, some of the ABP students will be enrolling in Education City university credit courses this fall.
Fifteen Academic Bridge Program students will study on a parallel enrollment calculus course for credit at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Four additional ABP students will enroll in credit history courses at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar . Students also had the opportunity to enroll at various courses at Texas A&M University. Additional Academic Bridge Program students will be permitted to enroll for university credit courses in the Spring Semester with CMU-Q, TAMUQ, and possibly Georgetown University in Qatar.
"This dual enrollment plan is quite common in the USA, and it allows our Academic Bridge Program students to obtain valid university credits while they are enrolled in the year-long program", said Dr. Lovelace. "In future semesters we hope to expand this pilot project to all of the Education City universities and hope that many of our students will be able to accumulate three to nine university credits while they are concurrently enrolled in the Academic Bridge Program".
During their first week students have been on an orientation program aimed at familiarizing the students with Education City and its facilities, which offer a different academic environment from their previous school study . The Qatar Foundation students' activities committee presented to the group and they toured Education City. In addition, the orientation program contained informative sessions about rules and regulations regarding attendance, the academic system and the credits in addition to procedures for applying to universities, objective thinking, how to prepare for university and encouragement on studying.
The ABP operates much like a junior college in the USA - providing a bridge between secondary school and university studies, while assisting students to improve their abilities in the English language and enhance their chances of admission and success at first class universities in Education City in Qatar, as well as those in Europe and North America.
