A bridge to world class education

In line with Qatar’s 2030 National Vision and in its efforts to leave a lasting legacy beyond the 2022 World Cup, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee launched Josoor Institute, a centre of excellence designed to give world-class education and training facilities, at the ongoing Doha GOALS forum at the Aspire Zone yesterday.

“Increasing educational opportunities is central to Qatar’s achieving the ambitious goals set out in the Qatar National Vision 2030,” said HE Salah bin Ghanim al-Ali, Minister of Youth and Sport. “We in Qatar firmly believe that access to education and enabling the transfer of knowledge are key to the advancement of societies across the Middle East.”

The centre will be run by the Aspire Academy, which has tied up with a roster of partners including the IMG, Georgetown University and SportBusiness International.

The founding partners of the centre are Aspire Academy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, Qatar Football Association (QFA), Qatar University, Silatech and Qatar Tourism Authority.

The main focus of Josoor Institute would be to provide world-class education and training facilities to sports professionals in the Middle East region. It will train people who will go on to play an integral role in Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup by delivering professional certificate and diploma programmes drawing on academic initiatives and workplace experiences.

The Supreme Committee expects the initiative to help in leaving a lasting legacy of individuals who would be fully trained to deliver large-scale sporting and non-sporting events, including the 2022 World Cup, across the region.

“The Josoor Institute will reinforce our ambitions in this area,” said Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, at the launch programme. “Through the training of talented people we will contribute to the organisational and commercial development of sport and this will provide a human legacy well beyond the 2022 World Cup.”

Josoor is the Arabic word for bridge, and al-Thawadi said the work of the Institute would help build bridges between “the reality in which young people live and their aspirations for the future”.

“It will help young people take the finest step, and emerge on the other side to face new opportunities,” he added. “Our success will be measured not by the number of students but by the benefits which they derive from Josoor.”

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, president of the QFA, said: “We at the QFA see this exceptional initiative from Qatar 2022 as key enabler to the realization of our 2021 vision towards a pioneering FA.

“We hope through Josoor Institute programs and offerings to have our Qatari youth gain knowledge, skills and build capacity so they contribute actively in hosting and staging major sporting events leading to the FIFA 2022 World Cup on our homeland Qatar.”

More than 1,000 participants are expected to attend Josoor Institute in the first full operational year beginning in October 2014. Georgetown University is working with the Institute to provide an academic framework and endorsement for coursework.

Although Josoor is still in development, the first outreach course took place on Monday. Over the next two days a further 100 participants from countries including Kuwait, Libya, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iran, Bahrain, Oman and Sudan will take part in two, short courses on the Business of Football and an Introduction to Running Major Events.

These courses will be delivered by leading specialists in their field, ranging from a former Chief Executive of the Premier League, to those responsible for delivering the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Rugby World Cup.

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