Texas A&M’s Decision to Close Qatar Branch Stirs Criticism and Questions
Texas A&M University’s decision to shut its campus in Qatar is drawing criticism and questions from students, professors, and Qatar Foundation, which hosts the campus in Doha’s Education City.
The Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents voted on February 8 to terminate its agreement with Qatar Foundation and begin a multiyear process of shutting down Texas A&M University at Qatar. The 7-to-1 vote was made with no public discussion, the Texas Tribune reported.
Qatar Foundation, in a strongly worded statement on X (formerly Twitter), accused the Texas A&M board of being influenced by a “disinformation campaign” aimed at harming the foundation’s interests.
That statement apparently alluded to reports from a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank called the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy that alleged that Qatar had “substantial ownership” of nuclear engineering technology being developed at the Texas A&M campus at Doha. The policy institute also alleged that Qatar provides substantial support to the Palestinian faction Hamas, which is currently at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
But the university denied that the think tank’s allegations had influenced the board’s vote, and it has strongly defended its research in Qatar.
“It is deeply disappointing that a globally respected academic institution like Texas A&M University has fallen victim to such a campaign and allowed politics to infiltrate its decision-making processes. At no point did the board attempt to seek out the truth from QF before making this misguided decision.”
Qatar Foundation in a statement on X
“The misinformation campaign had no bearing on Thursday’s decision” to shutter the Qatar campus, Mike Reilly, the system’s spokesman, said in a written statement. Discussions about the future of the branch “had begun before false information was reported about Texas A&M and Qatar,” he said.
Earlier in January, the university’s president, Mark Welsh, a retired U.S. Air Force general, issued a rebuttal of the accusations about research at the Qatar, calling them “simply wrong” and “irresponsible.” He added that the campus did not offer a nuclear engineering programme or any classes on the subject.
‘Disinformation Campaign’
Qatar Foundation’s unattributed statement on X said it was disturbing that a “disinformation campaign” had become the determining factor in the Texas A&M board’s decision, and that this campaign had “been allowed to override the core principles of education and knowledge, with no consideration to the significant positive impact this partnership has brought for both Qatar and the U.S.”
The statement added: “It is deeply disappointing that a globally respected academic institution like Texas A&M University has fallen victim to such a campaign and allowed politics to infiltrate its decision-making processes. At no point did the Board attempt to seek out the truth from the foundation before making this misguided decision.
“However, decisions based on any consideration other than the best interests of students and their pursuit of education and knowledge will not impact on our vision for higher education at Qatar Foundation, and our strategy for realising this vision,” the statement concluded.
Winding Down a 20-Year Relationship
Texas A&M University at Qatar was established in 2003 as a partner institution of Qatar Foundation, which is run by the Qatar government.
Following the Texas A&M board’s decision, the Doha campus will start winding down over the next four years before officially closing. Its current contract with Qatar Foundation was re-signed in 2021 and was not set to expire until 2033.
In a statement issued on February 8, Qatar Foundation noted that Texas A&M University at Qatar “has graduated over 1,500 engineers, formed vital collaborations with industry across many sectors, and produced pioneering research in engineering and sustainability” over the past 20 years.
The foundation said it was committed to ensuring the continuity of education for students currently enrolled at Texas A&M at Qatar.
Hend Zainal, executive director, strategy, management and partnerships of the Foundation’s higher education division, said that following Texas A&M University’s decision, the foundation would also accelerate its strategy to ensure the continuity of Education City’s mission.
Five other universities from the United States have campuses in Qatar. The Washington Post reported in 2015 that the Qatari government pays hundreds of millions of dollars in operational costs to foreign university campuses on its territory each year. In return the branches provide elite higher education for thousands of Qatari students and others from around the region.
Questions about Political Interference
Qatar Foundation was not alone in raising questions about the politics behind the decision to close Texas A&M University at Qatar. The Texas Tribune, an independent news organisation based in Austin, Texas, reported that students and faculty at the Doha campus were also questioning the decision.
“Our students can’t understand how local Texan politics can unilaterally determine a weighty decision about a very successful campus that excels in education without any discussion or negotiation.”
Brittany Bounds, a history professor at Texas A&M University at Qatar
“Our students can’t understand how local Texan politics can unilaterally determine a weighty decision about a very successful campus that excels in education without any discussion or negotiation,” Brittany Bounds, a history professor at the Qatar campus, said at a faculty senate meeting on Monday.
Bounds and other faculty members told the Tribune they were not convinced by the regents’ reasoning to close the campus because of heightened instability in the Middle East amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A Qatari student in the United States also raised questions about how rising political tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, which started on October 7, had influenced the Texas A&M board’s decision.
In a commentary on the website Medium, Hissa Al Thani, a student at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, in Illinois, observed that in a message of support published on October 13, Mark Welsh, then interim president of the Texas A&M University System, had appeared to maintain a neutral stance on the events unfolding in Gaza. “If the campus’s initial statement was impartial, what developments transpired in the 118 days that led to the decision to ultimately conclude their branch in Qatar?” she asked.
Al Thani also noted that on November 30, Mark Wallace, chief executive of the Counter Extremism Project, a nonpartisan organisation that tracks extremist groups, urged U.S. universities in Qatar to demand that Qatar’s royal family hand over Hamas’s leaders. He criticised universities, including Texas A&M, for operating in a country he considers a state sponsor of “terrorism” and “extremism.”
Al Thani thinks that the clash between media narratives, political considerations, and educational principles highlights the complexity of international partnerships in an environment shaped by historical biases.
“The recent developments at TAMU-Q evoke a sense of sadness and disappointment,” she wrote. “In light of this, [Qatar Foundation] could consider reassessing collaborations with American institutions, recognizing the inherent political nature of universities and the presence of underlying agendas.”
Qatar as Mediator
The Texas A&M decision came as the war in Gaza has escalated tensions across the Middle East, and amidst increased criticism of Qatar’s ties to Hamas, the militant group that Israel is trying to crush in the Gaza Strip.
The war began after Hamas launched a surprise attack inside Israel, killing 1,200 mainly unarmed civilians and taking some 240 hostages. Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas and launching a devastating campaign of airstrikes and ground attacks that have killed nearly 28,000 people in Gaza so far, mainly women and children.
“The recent developments at TAMU-Q evoke a sense of sadness and disappointment. In light of this, [Qatar Foundation] could consider reassessing collaborations with American institutions, recognizing the inherent political nature of universities and the presence of underlying agendas.”
Hissa Al Thani, a Qatari student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, in the United States
Qatar has been engaged in high-profile efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas since the war began. It is able to play that role because it hosts Hamas’s political office in Doha. A Qatari official told NPR, the independent National Public Radio organisation in the United States, that the office was opened over a decade ago in coordination with the U.S., after a request from Washington to establish indirect lines of communication with Hamas.
Qatari leaders say the United States still supports its decision to host the Hamas political office in Doha, and that the White House has praised its role in facilitating Hamas’s release in November of about 100 of the hostages.
Qatar remains an important U.S. ally in the Middle East, hosting thousands of U.S. troops at Al Udeid Air Base, which has been used to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
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