Qatar

Established in 1956, Qatar's Ministry of Education is responsible for overseeing the national education system. Since the formation of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981, the ministry has worked toward coordinating its educational agenda with that of other GCC states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates). At the end of the 1990s, the emphasis was on educational reform in order to address problems such as high unemployment, high attrition and failure rates in schools, poor uptake of graduates into the labor force, and curriculum revision to improve the quality of education on offer. With an estimated 5 percent of the national budget going toward general education, and another 4.5 percent going to the University of Qatar, the funding exists to implement needed reforms. And, with specialized educational think tanks such as the Education Research Center (ERC), the resources exist to analyze the problems and challenges facing educators in Qatar. The ERC supports educational research, offers consultation services to schools, facilitates cooperation among Qatar University's faculty and staff, publishes a biannual journal for the reporting of research results, and organizes workshops, seminars, and conferences for the benefit of the educational profession in Qatar.