Connected by One Dream: Graduates whose families have grown together at Qatar Foundation

From siblings sharing classrooms to mothers returning as mentors members of QF s Class of 2025 share their stories of how a unique ecosystem and mis...

From siblings sharing classrooms to mothers returning as mentors – members of QF’s Class of 2025 share their stories of how a unique ecosystem and mission spans generations

Doha, Qatar: In Education City, the academic experience is not determined by the number of courses or exams, but rather by lasting impact it has on its students.

For many Qatar Foundation (QF) graduates, the journey is not a solitary one, but rather a shared family experience. Siblings attend the same classrooms, mothers-turned-alumni now work alongside their children, and family gatherings are filled with conversations about QF– a shared experience that unites multiple generations within the same family and reflects the longevity of QF, which this year is marking 30 years since its establishment.

AlJohara Abdulla K. Al Thani is among the members of QF’s Class of 2025 who, in graduation season, reflects on how QF has brought her family together.She began her educational journey at Qatar Academy Doha – part of QF’s Pre-University Education – and is now preparing to graduate from QF partner university Northwestern University in Qatar. Her sister graduated from Qatar Academy Doha in 2023, and her two younger brothers are currently enrolled there. Their mother, too, is a graduate of a QF partner university.

"Although my mother graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar [VCUarts Qatar] in 2006, she often shared stories with us as we got older,” she says. “When she used to pick us up from school, we’d drive past her university and she would say ‘This is where I started university, and that’s where I had my textile class or art history class’. That’s how the stories would start.