Qatari students celebrate National Day
Pictured above (l-r): Ali Al-Habsi, goalkeeper for Wigan Athletic Football Club, VIP Cultural Attaché Dr Mohammed Al-Kaabi of the Ambassador’s Office at the Qatar Embassy, the University's Director of International Development Andrew Mandebura and the President of the Qatari Student Society Jassim Musa Almahmoud.
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 10:40:00 GMT
The Qatari student society welcomed Qatar Embassy Cultural Attaché Dr Mohammed Al-Kaabi for their National Day celebration
Pictured right: Qatari students in traditional dress celebrated Qatar National Day by taking part in native sword and flag dancing.
QATARI students at the University of Huddersfield celebrated ‘Qatar National Day’ in style and welcomed everyone to join in the celebrations when it was held on campus in December.
Qatar National Day is a way for students to maintain and share a knowledge and appreciation of Qatar’s heritage, even though the students at Huddersfield are a long way from home.
Special guests included the VIP Cultural Attaché Dr Mohammed Al-Kaabi of the Ambassador’s Office at the Qatar Embassy in London and professional footballer Ali Al-Habsi who is a goalkeeper for Wigan Athletic Football Club.
Students were in traditional dress and took part in native sword and flag dancing, whilst others had individual stalls with traditional sweet and savoury food on offer. Traditional board games were also played and celebrated with around 250 students from the University in attendance.
As a way to celebrate the World Cup being hosted in Qatar in 2022, the students brought with them an imitation trophy, as a fun way to mark the event.
President of the University’s Qatari Student Society, Jassim Musa Almahmoud, was extremely pleased with how the celebration was received and is looking forward to holding a similar event next year. “It was a dream for us to celebrate such an event at our university,” said Jassim, “We even made the Qatari media because of the eventshuge success. I would like to offer a big thank you to everyone who came and special thanks to our VIP guest Dr Al-Kaabi for his most welcome visit,” he continued.
55 student societies
The Qatari Student Society at the University of Huddersfield is one of 55 international student societies and their popularity is growing as students get the chance make friends with students from their country as well as meet students of other nationalities.
Alan Tobi, International Marketing Officer at the University (pictured left with professional footballer Ali Al-Habsi who is a goalkeeper for Wigan Athletic Football Club), helps the societies host their events on campus. “The societies offer all our students a great opportunity to integrate, develop a better understanding of different cultures, languages and cuisines, host and celebrate their own cultures on campus, whilst inspiring them to enjoy an outstanding university experience,” he said.
One such event, where all of the student societies come together, is ‘International Week’, which this year is to be held on campus from the 2nd to 6th March.
“This event always proves to be a real success, with students from the UK and all over the world taking part in a week-long celebration of culture,” said Alan. “A big attraction of the week is the International Food and Culture Festival, which attracts over 2,000 students – highlights of the Festival can be seen in this video.
The University’s Director of International Development, Andrew Mandebura, is delighted by the increase of student activity on campus.
“The University has taken active steps in recent years to encourage our students from the UK and overseas to learn more about the different cultures and nationalities on campus,” said Andrew.
“The Qatar National Day represents a successful example of a programme of activities led by our students and in some cases funded by the International Office, including Chinese New Year, various independence day celebrations and national holidays. It’s great to see students all getting involved and organising these types of events,” he added.
