BU vies to open satellite campus in Qatar

Boston University is competing against universities around the country to open a branch of its communications school in Qatar, which has been cherry-picking top universities' programs for its Education City.

BU would not say how many competitors it has, but the University of Missouri, home to the nation's oldest journalism school, confirmed that it, too, was in the running.

The universities are hoping to nab what many in academia consider a coveted spot in Qatar's education complex. Qatar gives multimillion dollar contracts to universities to hire faculty and staff to educate students from the Middle East in Qatar. The universities operate in free, state-of-the-art facilities steeped in luxury.

Stephen P. Burgay, vice president of marketing and communications at BU, declined to discuss details of the proposal to set up an outpost of the College of Communication in Qatar.

"The Qatar Foundation invited BU to submit a proposal, and we submitted one," Burgay said, "but there is no deal."

He would not say when the foundation was expected to make a decision. Foundation officials could not be reached for comment. BU's communications dean referred questions to Burgay.

The leader of another journalism school vying for a spot in Qatar said that teaching Western-style journalism in the Middle East had a particular appeal. The country formally lifted censorship about 10 years ago, but most of the broadcast media is state-run.

"It's a very important part of the world," said Dean Mills, dean of University of Missouri's School of Journalism. "One of our missions is to teach American-style journalism around the world."

Mills, like BU officials, would not discuss details. Bill Mitchell -- editor of Poynteronline, the website for the Poynter Institute, which offers training to journalists -- said putting an American-run journalism program in the Middle East is a good idea.

"If, in fact, this kind of education helps them be more subversive and push for independent media, that's a watchdog on government and society, more power to them," Mitchell said.

The Qatar foundation, which is backed by the Qatar government, has been seeking top programs from around the United States to develop a full menu of offerings for undergraduates and graduate students.

So far, five American universities have opened branches: Georgetown University has a foreign service school; Carnegie Mellon, business administration; Cornell University, a medical school; Texas A&M University, engineering; and Virginia Commonwealth University, an arts school.

"Qatar has a lot of natural resources and wealth," said David Prior, executive vice president and provost at Texas A&M. "They are very progressive and feel education is important."

Texas A&M opened its undergraduate engineering school in Qatar three years ago and has about 150 students, with plans to expand to 500 students. Next year it will add a graduate program. Prior said students take the same courses as those required in Texas, including Texas politics and history, and will earn a Texas A&M degree and university ring.

Prior said the foundation is building the university a 450,000-square-foot building for both programs at Education City. The building will have 32 research labs, four atriums with pools of water, and air conditioning, he said.

Prior said the university will be able to take part in oil exploration research because the Qatar foundation has partnerships with ExxonMobil and Shell.