College Of The North Atlantic Renews Historic International Contract
November 29th, 2016
College of the North Atlantic and the State of Qatar today announced the signing of a new three-year comprehensive agreement. The signing represents the continuation of the largest international post-secondary agreement ever awarded to a Canadian post-secondary institution.
The contract was finalized at a formal signing ceremony at the Qatar Embassy in Ottawa earlier today. Both the college and representatives from the State of Qatar expressed their pride in College of the North Atlantic-Qatar and its role as that country’s premier technical college. Both are looking forward to moving forward together while contributing to the National Vision of the Middle East state. CNA-Q has been an incredibly successful model of international partnership and the agreement formalizes the continuation of that collaboration until 2019.
“We are committed to continuing this important work with the State of Qatar at CNA-Q,” said Mr. Bob Gardiner, interim President and Chief Executive Officer of College of the North Atlantic. “This continued partnership through this new comprehensive agreement speaks volumes about the quality of post-secondary education we are delivering on behalf of the State, the value of the partnership, and the shared vision towards excellence.”
The partnership has been well received by CNA stakeholders and reaffirms the level of training Newfoundland and Labrador’s public college can offer in Canada or anywhere in the world.
“Through strong partnerships, CNA-Q will continue to deliver a quality education to the future leaders of the Qatari and global workforce. I am pleased to see CNA-Q further its reputation as the premier technical college in Qatar,” said the Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour, with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
College of the North Atlantic-Qatar has experienced phenomenal growth since its inception in 2001; growing from an initial 300 students in 11 programs to 2,100 students in 33 programs today, making it the country’s second largest post-secondary institution and its premier technical institute.
The institutions boasts 650+ staff (471 Canadian hires and 180 local hires) and 4,000+ alumni. The campus combines a Canadian curriculum and industry expertise in four program areas: Health Sciences, Information Technology, Engineering Technology and Industrial Trades, and Business Studies, as well as Technical Preparatory Programming and Academic Preparatory Studies. The campus has 20 buildings which contain state-of-the-art labs, workshops and classrooms owned by the state of Qatar and operated by College of the North Atlantic.