About The Qatar Support Office
VCU School of the Arts in Richmond, VA and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development established a branch campus in Doha, Qatar to provide the highest level of design education and training for the citizens of Qatar, the Arabian Gulf region and beyond. The purpose of VCU School of the Arts in Qatar is to offer students the opportunity to earn a bachelor of fine arts degree in Graphic Design, Fashion Design and Merchandising, or Interior Design.
VCU Qatar was the first university to be represented in Education City in 1998. Education City is an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Located on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, Education City covers 14 square kilometers and houses educational facilities from school age to research level. The presence of VCU Qatar within an Islamic environment enables students to foster a critical outlook towards the globalization of visual culture and its impact on design.
In 2008 the VCU Qatar School of the Arts in Doha, Qatar celebrated its 10th anniversary. This same year the Qatar Support Office (QSO) located at the home campus in Richmond, Virginia was officially established. Its purpose is to optimize the strategic value of operating a campus separated by seven time zones and a work week that aligns by just eight hours. The intent is to support each person and every function at the VCU Qatar campus without experiencing a slow down in operations. To accomplish this goal it was necessary to place primary administrative positions in the QSO in order to link with their counterparts at VCU Qatar. Each pair is expected to share and operate from the same knowledge base so as to minimize problems associated with distance and time differences.