Qatar University, represented by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute, held the National Identity Conference 2019, with the participation of researchers from the University and a number of government agencies in Qatar and in the presence of a large number participants.
The conference discussed two main scientific topics, the national identity and the role of education in promoting national identity in Qatar, as well as a set of public policies based on field information.
In his inaugural speech, the President of Qatar University Dr. Hassan Rashid Al Derham stressed the importance of the conference as the "national identity" is the basis for the establishment and continuity of modern societies and countries in the modern world, pointing out that modern societies and countries, while differentiated by national identity, should open up to each other in the base of their "humanitarian" and "civilizational" origins.
Al Derham added that the "national identity" in Qatar faces serious challenges on how to keep up with the process of modernization and development and openness to the other while preserving the traditions of society, and that these challenges of national identity come from the outside and inside, adding that the role of Qatar University is to monitor these challenges in a systematic scientific way, and propose policies and make recommendations to state institutions and concerned agencies.
For his part, His Excellency Minister of State Dr. Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al Kuwari said that identity involves a system of cultural values and it is a sign of a group affiliation with each other, explaining that the most important elements of the identity of the nation is the language and heritage and our values which are part of our identity as an expression of our life vision and the relations between each other and between us and other nations.
For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim Al Naimi tackled the role of the Ministry in instilling the concept and value of national identity, stressing the ministry's keenness to include in its curricula and programs and its classroom and other activities, the methods and practices that promote citizenship and national identity.
The Director of Social and Economic Survey Research Institute at Qatar University Dr. Hassan Al Sayed said that the importance of the National Identity Conference 2019 is to identify and define the components of national identity in Qatar, which will support decision-makers in designing national policies related to identity based on facts, in order to enhance the national identity, so that national identity can be measurable and can be replicated in the future, explaining that the organization of the conference came as one of the outputs of the national identity survey project of 2018, carried out by the institute last year.
Al Sayed stressed the importance of the subject of national identity at this time when the Qatari society undergoes major changes in light of the challenges of globalization and economic and technological development. This is one of the challenges mentioned in Qatar National Vision 2030 on how to keep pace with modernization and development while preserving the traditions of society, he added.
Al Sayed explained that this work has been done by a team of several members of the institute as well as a group of professors from Qatar University, and the project resulted in several analytical reports dealing with issues related to national identity such as legislation, education and national dialect, and the methodology of researches related to the survey was adopted.
The conference discussed during the two scientific sessions, 16 research papers presented by more than 20 researchers.
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