Education City institutions are now ranked among the top ten percent of the colleges and universities in the US, with the highest educational standards, according to an independent survey. The Qatar Foundation and its university partners are the first organisations outside North America which made it among the top educational institutions in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). More than 750 higher education institutions and almost 500,000 students in the United States and Canada took part in the NSSE, which is designed to measure the factors that add up to a high-quality educational experience. The survey asked first-year and graduating students in spring 2008 for their assessment of a number of aspects of university life: The level of academic challenge they experience; involvement in practical and collaborative learning; the quality of their interactions with faculty members; opportunities to learn both in the classroom and outside; and the degree of support available on campus. "Not only did students report positive experiences in their first year, but the experiences got even better," said Dr Denny Roberts, Assistant Vice-President for Faculty and Student Services. "Moreover, participation in the survey was among the highest ever recorded, coming in at 58 percent of those surveyed." The survey indicated a number of strengths common to the Education City universities. In comparison to other institutions that took part in the survey, students reported they worked harder than they thought they could, and they worked more frequently with faculty and other students, both in and out of class. First-year and graduating students revealed educational and personal growth in many areas, including writing, public speaking, critical thinking, quantitative analysis, working with others and understanding people from other backgrounds. And the results appeared to reflect how students themselves felt about their Education City experience. "I have acquired a real, in-depth understanding of the subject I chose to study," said Yasmine Abdelrahman, a 2008 business graduate of Carnegie Mellon in Qatar. The Pen

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