The Persian Gulf region — which includes Iran, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq — contains an estimated 50 percent of the world's oil reserves and thus plays a strategic geopolitical role. RAND has a strong presence in and focus on the region, with an office in Doha, focusing primarily on domestic and regional issues such as education and development and on assisting U.S. and allied military forces in the region.
Research conducted by:
Center for Middle East Public Policy;
RAND-Qatar Policy Institute
Journal Articles (11)
Qatar
— Jan 1, 2013
This chapter focuses on Qatar's education system, describing the laws and policies under which both public and non-public schools operate.
The authors adopt a cross-country perspective to assess Qatar's performance in the various components of the knowledge economy using multiple indicators.
Examines the progress that Qatar has made in implementing a comprehensive reform, begun in 2002, of its K-12 education system.
Qatar began establishing publicly funded, privately operated "independent schools" in parallel with the existing Ministry of Education system in 2002.
A five-stage process that includes quantitative risk assessment by experts and deliberations by groups of stakeholders appears to provide an effective basis for developing a strategic plan that addresses environmental risks.
Qatar-a small, natural-resource-rich country in the Persian Gulf-has embarked on an ambitious, comprehensive effort to upgrade its educational institutions.
With the discovery of large quantities of natural gas, the Qatari economy has experienced sustained economic growth. Similar to what has occurred in other Gulf states, a consequence of this economic boom is that the demand level for skilled and unskilled labor far outstrips that which Qatari nationals can provide. As a result, Qatar has imported foreign labor to the point where foreigners outnumber Qataris by almost seven to one. Moreover, the structure of the labor market -- in particular, the system of generous and near-guaranteed public sector employment -- diminishes incentives for Qataris to acquire valuable skills and to work in the private sector. The reliance on foreign laborers and the lack of skilled Qatari workers is widely seen by Qatar's leaders as a serious threat to the nation's economic autonomy and long-term economic viability. Thus a key challenge facing policymakers is to devise policies and reforms that will help develop a domestic workforce with the skills and incentives to work in the economy's most important and competitive positions. Drawing on public data sources, this article provides a detailed quantitative assessment of the economic and demographic situation that underlies the current challenges and discusses several policy options that might be used to help overcome them.
Many of the most powerful factors associated with physician migration are difficult or impossible for countries to change through public policy.
A number of Middle Eastern states — e.g., Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia — seem to be "coup-proof." That is, their regimes have created structures that minimize the possibility that a small group can seize power.
Additional studies need to be conducted in a sample of the Saudi population to further assess the psychometric properties of the Arabic version.
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