Tài liệu Aligning Post-Secondary Educational Choices to Societal Needs pdf

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iii
Preface
Since the 1970s, Qatar has had a scholarship system designed to send students abroad for
undergraduate and graduate programs not available locally. In 2003, the Supreme Education
Council (SEC) requested that the RAND Corporation provide recommendations on reform-
ing the system. e SEC specified that a new scholarship system for Qatar should complement
and promote its national K–12 reforms, utilize the expanding high-quality post-secondary
options available in the country, and meet the labor-related, civic, and cultural needs generated
from Qatar’s significant economic and social development.
RAND developed recommendations to improve Qatar’s scholarship system and provided
the SEC with a final project report at the end of 2003. e SEC accepted these recommen-
dations and, in September 2004, established the Higher Education Institute (HEI), with a
similar organizational structure and functions to those of RAND’s proposed Post-Secondary
Education Institute. e HEI has adopted the goals and principles suggested in this report,
along with most of RAND’s recommendations on scholarship programs. at said, it has also
transformed and improved upon our ideas and suggestions. We are grateful to have had the
opportunity to conduct this study, which has helped to launch what has become a prominent
and important institute in Qatar.
is report summarizes our evaluation of the old system and our resulting recommenda-
tions. is research should be of interest to policymakers in other wealthy countries balancing
support for in-country post-secondary institutions with support for students to study abroad.
The RAND-Qatar Policy Institute and RAND Education
is project was conducted under the auspices of the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute (RQPI)
and RAND Education. RQPI is a partnership of the RAND Corporation and the Qatar
Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development. e aim of RQPI is to
offer the RAND style of rigorous and objective analysis to clients in the greater Middle East.
In serving clients in the Middle East, RQPI draws on the full professional resources of the
RAND Corporation. RAND Education analyzes education policy and practice and supports
the implementation of improvements at all levels of the education system.
For further information on RQPI, contact the director, Richard Darilek. He can be
reached by email at rqpi@rand.org; by telephone at +974-492-7400; or by mail at P.O. Box
23644, Doha, Qatar. For more information about RAND Education, contact the associate
director, Charles Goldman. He can be reached by email at Charles_Goldman@rand.org; by
telephone at +1-310-393-0411, extension 6748; or by mail at RAND, 1776 Main Street, Santa
Monica, California 90401 USA.

v
Contents
Preface iii
Figures
vii
Tables
ix
Summary
xi
Acknowledgments
xvii
Abbreviations
xix
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction 1
Context
1
Study Purpose and Audience
2
Methods and Data
3
Limitations and Caveats
5
Organization of is Report
6
CHAPTER TWO
Goals and Guiding Principles for Qatar’s Scholarship System 7
Goals
7
Guiding Principles
8
CHAPTER THREE
Qatar’s Scholarship Programs 11
Description of the Scholarship System in 2003
11
Ministry of Education Program
11
Employer-Sponsored Programs
14
Hybrid Programs
15
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Current System
16
Strengths
16
Weaknesses
16
CHAPTER FOUR
Recommendations for New Scholarship System Programs 21
Unique Features of Proposed Scholarship System Programs
23
Prestigious Scholarship Program
23
Employer-Sponsored Scholarship Program
24
Loan-Based Scholarship Program
25
vi Aligning Post-Secondary Educational Choices to Societal Needs: A New Scholarship System for Qatar
Precollege Grants 26
Study-Abroad Programs
27
CHAPTER FIVE
Scholarship System Infrastructure and Implementation 29
A New Post-Secondary Education Institute
29
e Institutional Standards Office
30
e Scholarship Office
31
Student Resource Center
32
Implementation
33
CHAPTER SIX
Conclusion 35
Proposed Scholarship System
35
Key Goals
35
Guiding Principles
37
Qatar’s Education Reform Initiatives
38
Implications for Policymakers
38
Possible Unintended Consequences
39
Establishing the Higher Education Institute
40
APPENDIXES
A. Survey of Selected Scholarship Programs 41
B. Scholarship Programs in Countries with Similarities to Qatar
49
C. Sample of Interview Protocols
55
D. Interviewees
71
References
73
vii
Figures
S.1. Organizational Structure for the Post-Secondary Education Institute and Its Offices xiv
3.1. Countries of Study for Ministry of Education and Qatar Petroleum Scholarship
Recipients, 2002
12
3.2. Rankings of Institutions Attended by Graduates of the Ministry of Education
Program, 2002
17
5.1. Proposed Organizational Structure for the Post-Secondary Education Institute and
Its Offices
30

ix
Tables
1.1. Types of Interviewees and Key Information Solicited from Each Group 4
3.1. Distribution of Students with Ministry of Education Scholarships for Domestic and
Foreign Study, 2000–2001
12
3.2. Key Features of the Ministry of Education Scholarship Program
14
3.3. Key Features of Employer-Sponsored Scholarship Programs
15
3.4. Distribution of Students with Qatar Petroleum Scholarships, 2003
15
3.5. Key Features of Hybrid Scholarship Programs
16
4.1. Proposed Common Features Across Scholarship Programs
22
4.2. Proposed Unique Features Across Scholarship Programs
23
4.3. Proposed Unique Features of a Prestigious Scholarship Program
24
4.4. Proposed Unique Features of Employer-Sponsored Scholarship Program
25
4.5. Proposed Unique Features of a Loan-Based Scholarship Program
26
A.1. Corporate- and Government-Sponsored Scholarship Programs
42
A.2. Prestigious Scholarship Programs
45
B.1. Scholarship Programs in Countries with Similarities to Qatar
50
B.2. Comparison of Qatar and Singapore
52
D.1. Interviewee Information
71

xi
Summary
Since 1995, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-ani, has led the country on a
course of significant economic and social development. is development demands that Qatar’s
population acquire specialized technical skills, competency in English and other languages,
1

critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, leadership experience, and the capability to oper-
ate in an international environment. Post-secondary study is an essential means to acquiring
these skills and, in turn, to producing a highly skilled labor force.
Pursuant to a scholarship law issued in the 1970s, Qatar has supported study abroad in
undergraduate and graduate programs not available locally. Although the law has not been
updated since the 1970s, the country has undergone major societal shifts since then. Workforce
needs have evolved, and there are increasing demands for Qataris in the labor force. Recently,
Qatar has made substantial investments in primary- and secondary-education reforms and in
the expansion of in-country post-secondary options. Several highly selective post-secondary
institutions have established branch campuses in the capital city of Doha, and Qatar Univer-
sity has undergone major reform. A scholarship system that includes post-secondary counsel-
ing, comprehensive recipient support, and widespread data collection and analysis would allow
Qatar to capitalize on these educational reforms while developing the human capital it needs
to support its economic and social development.
In 2003, the Supreme Education Council (SEC) of Qatar requested that RAND provide
recommendations for improving the country’s scholarship programs. Leaders of the country
wanted to ensure that the scholarship system and the laws supporting it were aligned to the new
workforce and post-secondary contexts. ey also wanted suggestions on how to ensure that
their investments in the scholarship programs generated returns in terms of students attending
high-quality post-secondary institutions. In particular, they wanted to ensure that students
who were studying abroad were enrolling in institutions of higher quality than those available
in the country. e SEC asked us to consider all aspects of the system, including its purpose
and outcomes, as well as processes (e.g., financing and contracting with students) and policies
(e.g., student and institutional eligibility).
To understand the strengths and weaknesses of the then-current system, we conducted
more than 50 interviews with stakeholders, including SEC members, scholarship sponsors,
students, graduates, college officials, cultural attaché staff, and other student-support provid-
ers. RAND collected data on scholarship recipients, examining rankings of the colleges and
universities they attended, and reviewed the original (1976) and proposed (2003) scholarship
1
Although most employers interviewed for this study specified a desire for English-speaking employees, a few argued that
they also needed their employees to speak French.
xii Aligning Post-Secondary Educational Choices to Societal Needs: A New Scholarship System for Qatar
laws. In addition, RAND reviewed selected scholarship programs around the world, focusing
on countries similar to Qatar with respect to size, wealth, and internal post-secondary infra-
structure. To learn firsthand about an advanced government-sponsored scholarship system,
members of the RAND team met with a variety of employers and government officials in Sin-
gapore, a similar country in terms of size, wealth, post-secondary infrastructure, and its desire
to augment in-country options with targeted study-abroad opportunities.
Our analysis demonstrated that Qatar’s then-current scholarship system had a number
of weaknesses:
No single organization coordinated and administered the three main scholarship pro-t
grams operating in Qatar.
Policies and procedures within and across individual scholarship programs were not coher-t
ently designed or consistently executed, and systematic information was nonexistent.
Prior to college, students were not receiving guidance or preparation to attend high-t
quality institutions.
e system provided few incentives to attend high-quality institutions.t
Support services for recipients were inadequate.t
Choices about resource allocation and post-secondary education were impeded by a lack t
of data and analysis on Qatari participation in post-secondary education.
e purpose of our study was to provide recommendations to remedy these weaknesses.
We proposed a new system to improve decisionmaking at multiple levels about higher edu-
cation, from students’ enrollment decisions to the country’s decisions on investing in post-
secondary learning. e proposed system was designed to meet goals that were elicited from
our interviews of more than 50 country leaders and other stakeholders of the scholarship
system. e goals included meeting workforce needs; developing language, critical thinking,
and problem-solving skills; preparing future leaders; providing international exposure and
establishing ties to other countries; and meeting civic and cultural needs. Our recommenda-
tions were further guided by principles of quality, accountability, efficiency, flexibility, and sup-
port. ese principles are based on those of prestigious scholarship programs around the world,
and Qataris confirmed that they were important during our interviews.
We argued that, if scholarships are to play a critical role in the larger education system,
a major reform of the prior scholarship system would be required. Scholarship reform can be
effective only within the context of broader measures that
assist secondary-school students in making decisions about post-secondary study that t
benefit themselves, employers, and the state
establish incentives for secondary students to excel, gain admission to high-quality post-t
secondary institutions, and achieve at those institutions
track and evaluate recipient performancet
improve investment in human resources by conducting comprehensive data collection t
and analysis on all Qataris engaged in post-secondary study
assess the quality of all institutions attended by Qataris—at home and abroad.t