Texas A&M University to Shut Down Qatar Campus by 2028

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted on Thursday to close the main branch campus in Qatar by 2028, the university has announced.

In a statement on February 9, Texas A&M at Qatar (TAMUQ), a Qatar Foundation partner university, said that the closure procedure would take about four years, meaning there will not be an immediate change in services and operation, Erudera.com reports.

“The Board has decided that the core mission of Texas A&M should be advanced primarily within Texas and the United States. By the middle of the 21st century, the university will not necessarily need a campus infrastructure 8,000 miles away to support education and research collaborations,” Board Chairman Bill Mahomes said.

The school disclosed that a team will soon assemble to ensure that students graduate, faculty and staff receive the necessary support, and research obligations are properly fulfilled.

Commenting on the decision, the President of Texas A&M University, Mark A. Welsh III, highlighted the impact of the Qatar campus in advancing ideals and graduating talented engineers over the past twenty years.

“As we look to the future of our land-, sea- and space-grant university, the global exchange of research and education will continue to be integral to our world-class campuses here in the U.S.”

The Board of Regents has decided to reevaluate the university’s presence in the Middle East during the fall of 2023 due to the increased instability in the area. This was a topic of discussion during the Thursday morning meeting, and later in the afternoon, Regent Mike Hernandez proposed ending the agreement with the Qatar Foundation.

The proposal was backed by Regent Randy Brooks and passed on a 7-1 vote.

The campus in Qatar was opened in 2003 with the intention to advance education and research in chemical, electrical, mechanical, and petroleum engineering. TAMUQ is among the six American universities located in Qatar’s Education City.

In fall 2023, 162 new students enrolled at Texas A&M at Qatar, bringing the total number of students on campus to 844, including those from other Education City partner universities and students studying abroad from Texas A&M’s main campus in College Station, Texas, United States.

The university’s data indicate of 632 enrolled students back then, 61 were from Qatar. Of this figure, 48 percent were women.

In the 2023/24 academic year, a record number of undergraduate students (227) enrolled in the electrical and computer engineering program, up from 140 in 2015/16 and 124 students in 2017/18.

Picture: Texas A&M at Qatar Twitter