Young men comprise 10% of the new BFA class while four of the six MFA students are male. Along with 37 students from Qatar, the class of 2014 (BFA) has 24 students from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, USA and Yemen. The MFA students come from Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon UK and USA.
Admission to VCUQatar has become more competitive with every consecutive year. The incoming Class of 2014 represents highly qualified students who demonstrated strong academic skills, English language competency and background in art that suggests the potential to succeed as promising artists and designers.
“Dear class of 2014, I wish to welcome you to VCUQatar,” began Dean Allyson Vanstone in her welcome statement. “You are joining the university at a significant moment in our history. You will be the first class to enjoy all of your years of study in our expanded facility that more than doubles the size of the university. This new space provides a world-class, specialized art and design library, a new product materials library – the first of its kind in the country, new high-end digital resources for producing your design work, new graduate studios linked to the VCUQatar research center, and, real student lounges” she added.
The welcome given by faculty and administration marked the conclusion of an exciting week of orientation activities, where both students and parents were informed about the challenges and struggles involved in earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in design. Beginning last Sunday with Family Night, the activities organized by Director of Student Activities, Hissa Al Garni, included a cross cultural awareness session besides art foundation activities and ice breaker sessions where students mingled with and got to know each other. As the activities were held in the afternoon, iftars were held at the atrium for the students and their advisors and orientation leaders. On Thursday, the students received their class schedules and also sat through presentations on Safety and QF Campus Life. The week’s activities ended on Thursday night with the students participating in a joint QF welcome event for all Education City freshmen. VCUQatar also welcomed the second class of the MFA in Design Studies, the first graduate program in Qatar’s Education City and the first in design in the gulf region, after a day of orientation.
“Since I attended the orientation I made a lot of friends and I had a lot of fun. I am looking forward to start classes,” said freshman Farah Al Adawy from Oman who hopes to become a graphic designer. “I’m very excited to join the highly respected university VCUQatar, to obtain greater knowledge and skills for my future career as an interior designer,” said another freshman Indonesian Natasha Bahri, who is also the winner of the full four-year Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned Scholarship for Creativity to study at VCUQatar.
“ Being a volunteer of International Orientation for two consecutive years, working as a leader for VCUQatar’s 2009 Orientation and now running as the organizer of VCUQatar’s 2010 Orientation, I have found that freshmen that are coming in to join EC are much more enthusiastic and friendly. Students are becoming more broad minded and do not hesitate to put themselves forward” said Program Coordinator Rabab Abdulla, a rising double major (fashion and interior design) Junior from India.
“Our freshmen class is a talented group of students,” said Valerie Jeremijenko, assistant dean for Student Affairs. Majority of the group are Qatari and the rest of the students represent 20 different countries. This kind of cultural mix is going to make for a dynamic class and we look forward to getting to know them and watching them evolve.”
VCUQatar’s incoming BFA Class of 2014
