A total of 138 students walked across the stage during the branch campus’ annual commencement ceremony, including 16 graduates from the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021, who were unable to participate in in-person ceremonies because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The Class of 2022 includes 103 students who graduated with bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering, and 19 students who graduated with master’s degrees in chemical engineering. The Class of 2022 includes 49 Qatari graduates and 64 female engineers, and represents 21 nationalities. To date, Texas A&M at Qatar has awarded a total of 1,388 degrees, with 43% awarded to Qatari graduates.
HE Buthaina bint Ali al-Nuaimi, Minister of Education and Higher Education, was the night’s invited speaker.
In her remarks to the graduates, HE al-Nuaimi said: “I urge you to take what you have learned here with passion and have a driven determination to use your knowledge and skills to make a difference. This is the beginning of the journey of giving back. We look forward to your contribution to the development of your country and hope to see you back here soon to share your success stories and inspire others.”
Fatima al-Khayarin, a Class of 2022 petroleum engineering graduate, was selected to address her classmates and fellow graduates during the ceremony.
“To all graduates of the Class of 2022: believe in yourself and know your worth because I genuinely believe that each one of us Aggies can do anything we set our minds to and become a force of positive change in our world," she said.
Dr Cesar Octavio Malave, dean of Texas A&M at Qatar, congratulated the graduates on their resilience and resourcefulness in completing their degree, and their readiness to join a workforce that demands innovative thinkers to devise creative solutions to the world’s challenges of today and beyond.
Dr Malave said, “As you receive your diploma and take steps toward your professional life, you take an obligation to uphold our Aggie core values — respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity and selfless service. We now look to you to fulfill your potential as engineering leaders for Qatar’s knowledge economy and for the global energy transformation we are witnessing. I am counting on you, Texas A&M is counting on you, and Qatar is counting on you, and I am confident in your success.”
After the degrees were awarded, Maryam al-Bishri, a Class of 2011 graduate, inducted the graduates into The Association of Former Students, Texas A&M’s alumni organisation that comprises more than 525,000 graduates of the university and is known worldwide as the Aggie Network.