FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The primary consideration of HBKU is the safety of all students, their families, and its employees. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak and recommendations provided by Qatar's Ministry of Public Health, we have had to make the difficult decision to postpone the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020.  

HBKU is committed to ensuring that our graduates’ academic life journey culminates in a graduation ceremony. Therefore, please be assured that a graduation ceremony will take place once it is deemed safe to do so. A new date for the ceremony will be announced at a later point. 

Attending the ceremony is always entirely optional. If you are unable to attend the rescheduled ceremony, you will still receive your degree certificate.

Yes, you will need to re-register for the ceremony. Once we have confirmed the new dates for the ceremony, more information on how to do this will be sent to you.

Yes, the deadlines have changed. The new dates are posted on the HBKU academic calendar online and will also be communicated to you by the Registrar’s Office.  

The graduation photos are an HBKU tradition we intend to keep. We will update you on the arrangement and the date for the photography sessions and we will also work to accommodate graduates who already left Qatar. 

The Registrar’s Office will advise you on this at a later date.

The university will continue to issue regular updates to the community. We encourage all students to regularly check the HBKU and Qatar Foundation websites for updates. In addition, make sure you are frequently monitoring your HBKU email.

Any updates will be communicated to you through your HBKU email address. You will still be able to access your HBKU email address until the graduation ceremony takes place. Please monitor the HBKU website for updates as well.

Yes, the diploma, graduation certificates, and transcripts will be issued on June 1 as planned. You may see your grades online as of May 7. If you have already left Doha, your documents will be mailed to you but please be mindful of expected shipping delays due to the current situation. Make sure you update your address with the Registrar’s Office to avoid delays. 

If you need to have your diploma and/or documents attested, please notify the Registrar’s Office prior to receiving your documents to secure the required HBKU signature and stamp.

Students are responsible for completing the attestation process with the relevant authorities. 
 

Depending on the accessibility to the campus by June 1, we will notify you on how and where to collect your documents. 

The graduation forms are available on the HBKU website in an editable Pdf format. The Registrar’s Office is working to automate the graduation documents’ processing. You will be notified once the new process is launched. 

All graduates are welcome to return and attend their graduation. You are advised to communicate with your college for questions regarding issuing the proper visa required to return in case your residency has expired. 

If you have completed your graduation requirements, you may return to your home country. You are advised to check announcements from HBKU with regard to a new graduation date.   

You are advised to refer to your college for questions relating to the funding of accommodation and travel. 

In order to keep receiving communications from HBKU after your graduation in regard to alumni relations, please register your information in this link: https://hbku.wufoo.eu/forms/z666hun1plu6ha/ Please use your personal email

HBKU Communications, the HBKU Registrar’s Office, and Qatar Foundation will continue to send regular updates to the community. In addition, you should regularly check your university email. Please check the following websites:

No. Classes on campus have been suspended as of Tuesday, March 10, 2020. The informed decision was announced by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in an effort to protect the health of students and the wider community in Qatar. 

HBKU is in the process of conducting classes on a digital platform and students are advised to coordinate to work with faculty members in this regard.

Students will continue their learning and education remotely until the end of this semester in coordination with your faculty members. Colleges and faculty are working  with students in regard to course requirements and grading arrangements. 

If you face any connectivity issues, please contact the HBKU IT team (hbkuitsupport@hbku.edu.qa) for technical support.

Following the most recent guidance provided by the MOPH and as a precaution to safeguard the health and safety of the HBKU community, access to all HBKU buildings and facilities has been restricted as of Thursday, March 12, 2020.

We request that all our students refrain from accessing any HBKU facilities until further notice. For urgent exceptions, kindly coordinate with your college. 

As a precautionary measure, international students are encouraged to travel back to their home countries. International travel advisories continuously change, and more flight destinations are being canceled and airports shut down. These restrictions are likely to affect your ability to travel by the summer. 

For those who decide to travel back, your housing facility has provided an express-checkout system, which you can inquire about from the Student Housing focal point at studenthousing@qf.org.qa. Your respective colleges have undertaken to cover your flight ticket expenses to your countries and to facilitate your exit permits in a timely manner.

For students who are unable to travel back due to flight cancellations or difficult conditions in your home country that might affect your studies, you are more than welcome to remain in your dormitories. The University will continue to ensure your wellbeing, and all services will be provided to you as usual.

National students outside the country would need to adhere to the national policies in place in that country with the readiness of the country's embassies to provide the necessary services, including facilitating the procedures for returning to the State of Qatar if needed.

Following a meeting of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Crisis Management regarding further precautionary measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), all incoming flights to Hamad International Airport are suspended starting from Wednesday, March 18, for an initial period of 14 days.

To this end, international students are requested to continue their studies remotely and should contact their college focal point for further inquiries/arrangements.

For all HBKU student-related queries regarding COVID-19, you can call Student Affairs on any of the numbers below:

In order to safeguard the health and safety of the HBKU community amid the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, a decision has been taken to postpone or cancel events, both locally and internationally, from now until the end of June 2020. 

Events scheduled to take place after June will be evaluated in the coming weeks as we continue to monitor the situation.

Given the developing situation, HBKU buildings are closed to all employees and visitors until further notice. 

Classes on campus have been suspended as of Tuesday, March 10, 2020. Faculty members are advised to coordinate class schedules remotely and are expected to continue conducting classes through HBKU’s digital workspace.

The suspension of classes was announced by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in an effort to protect the health of the wider community in Qatar. 

Given the developing situation, HBKU buildings are closed to all employees. Faculty, researchers and staff have been advised to work remotely until further notice and are expected to continue fulfilling their duties in coordination with their respective line managers.  Members involved in critical business functions are required to operate on site and will be informed accordingly. 

For technical queries, please contact the HBKU IT team (hbkuitsupport@hbku.edu.qa) for support.

Qatari employees outside the country would need to adhere to the national policies in place in that country with the readiness of the country's embassies to provide the necessary services, including facilitating the procedures for returning to the State of Qatar if needed.

Employees affected by the travel restrictions are advised to continue working remotely until further notice. Members are requested  to contact HBKU Human Resources (HR) and inform their line managers accordingly for further steps. 

With the remote working approach, the University remains fully committed to ensuring research and educational continuity. 

To support our community members during the period of remote working, students, faculty, researchers and staff have access to a number of tools online. Click here to view the list of resources available. 

Line managers are requested to oversee workflow to serve their unit function and continue to be as effective as possible while operating remotely; ensuring employee work hours are met and team assignments are completed.

Please refer to the QF remote guidelines here.

We understand that some of our employees might have been impacted by the travel restrictions. We advise them to continue to work remotely and contact HBKU HR as per the details below, and copy their line managers for further necessary actions:

We recommend that faculty, researchers and staff limit their personal travel plans. However, should they wish to do so (at their own risk), please note the precautions set by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH).

HR electronic requests will continue to be processed through the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which can be accessed through eservices.qf.org.qa

For further HR-related queries, please contact your HR focal points:

COVID-19 has officially been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and treatment is therefore not covered under insurance companies worldwide, including QF’s insurance policy with Qatar Medical and Life Insurance (QLM). Instead, treatment for any COVID-19 cases will be offered by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). By using your public health card, you can utilize the services of any public healthcare hospital or medical center in Qatar.

The MOPH recommends following simple practices to protect yourself and others from coronavirus:

If you have recently visited any country where cases of the coronavirus have been reported, and you have begun developing signs and symptoms of respiratory infections, please call the MOPH hotline on 16000. You can also visit the MOPH Website here for the latest information and health advice.

Social distancing measures are steps you can take to reduce the social interaction between people. This will help reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19).

These include: 

HBKU employees can follow a number of best practices for business continuity: