QU’s College of Business and Economics unveils initiatives to help promote sustainability

QNADohaThe College of Business and Economics at Qatar University (QU) has unveiled new programmes and initiatives that support the college’s new strategic direction in supporting sustainability and maximising its social impact in light of the transformations that the region and the world are witnessing in the economy and business fields.The college announced its intention to offer an Executive Master’s Programme in Sports Management as the second programme after the Executive Master in Leadership within the framework of the college’s new orientation towards responding to the developments taking place regionally and globally in the economic and business environment.At a press conference held on Monday, Dean of QU’s College of Business and Economics Dr Rana Sobh explained, in the presence of a number of department heads at the college, that the Sports Management Programme aims to qualify managers capable of managing sports organizations efficiently and effectively by providing them with basic knowledge and skills to carry out management functions and athletes to achieve continuous development in their professional capabilities.The college intends to offer the Sports Management programme in Arabic and in a flexible manner that responds to the student’s work schedule so that they can complete their higher studies despite job obligations to hone their management skills during the programme approved by the International Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).The College of Business and Economics offers an Executive Master’s Programme in Leadership in Arabic during its current academic semester (Fall 2022), which is the first Executive Master’s at QU. The first programme succeeded in attracting about 30 students from Qatar Leadership Center graduates.On a similar note, the College of Business and Economics announced the launch of an updated version of the sub-specialty in entrepreneurship under the name ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation’, focusing on the practical and applied aspect and making it available to all QU students, which enhances opportunities for spreading the culture of entrepreneurship among all university students.The college was also approved to offer a sub-programme in taxation, which aims to enable students to acquire knowledge and a set of skills required by the labour market in the taxation field, and a sub-specialty in the field of data analysis, which aims to develop and enrich students’ abilities and skills in making decisions in light of the availability of the huge amount of data resulting from the development of information systems technology, artificial intelligence systems and digitisation.The college was also approved to offer an elective course in real estate finance to familiarise students with the different real estate investment alternatives, and the unique characteristics of real estate finance investments compared to securities investments. Dr Sobh announced that the first startup of Genesis Technologies company has been established at QU, explaining that this company is the outcome of scientific and applied research by researchers affiliated with the college with the support of a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) in 2020.She said the company has developed a unique type of blockchain technology called MaxYa to recycle the power of computational power in securing data to contribute to solving difficult mathematical problems that have direct application in the business world, such as supply chain management and improving logistics operations in various fields.She added the college’s new strategy focuses on supporting sustainability and maximising social impact by focusing on sustainable business practices in academic programmes and scientific research.The dean also announced that the college will organise a global competition entitled ‘Global Sustainability Space Challenge’, in conjunction with the activities of Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup, in cooperation with Metavisionaries, other global partners, and with the support of local bodies as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA) and the US Blue Origin company Blue.She added that the accounting programmes at the college had obtained specialised academic accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) which inspires new ways of thinking about accounting education worldwide according to the highest standards of quality education and learning.