For Carnegie Mellon distances are just a formality

More than 6,900 miles separate Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States from Doha. However, Carnegie Mellon University’s continual international focus and emphasis on diversity has shrunken that gap and made others similarly insignificant.

Last month, 10 students from Doha travelled to Pittsburgh during their mid-semester break as part of the university’s IMPAQT Instigating Meaningful Pittsburgh and Qatar Ties program, which was founded in 2008. A week later, seven students from Pittsburgh followed them home by travelling to Doha for their own cultural experience.

For Amal Osman, a junior in Business Administration, this was her first visit to Pittsburgh. She was on a mission to “enrich student experiences on both campuses. In also visiting Washington D.C., travelling to two different cities in the United States shed some light on the diverse American landscape and helped her “realize how different the two cities are in terms of people, urban design, lifestyle and much more.

Pittsburgh students had similar thinking.

William Mistiano, an International Relations and Politics major, became interested in visiting Doha upon hearing about IMPAQT during orientation. He applied to travel to Qatar, searching for a chance to see what life is like for his fellow students.

On his return to Pittsburgh, he said, “Having gone to Qatar, I have realized how much of an amazing place it is, and how great it is that Qatar Foundation is putting resources into education, which will prove invaluable in the future.”

Pittsburgh students visited such sites as Al Jazeera’s Studios and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, as well as participated in a Qatari cultural event, Freej which was put on by Carnegie Mellon’s Qatar Student Association.

The university’s international focus is continual.

Over the weekend, Carnegie Mellon Qatar celebrated its diverse student population, representing 39 different countries from around the world, at International Day. The evening’s performances included everything from bagpipes, to flamenco and traditional desi dance groups from the Indian Subcontinent.

Jevika Shetty, Class of 2013, is excited to be “a part of the multi-cultural student body at Carnegie Mellon.” She said: “Everyone is proud of their identity and is open to share it. I thank the administration at Carnegie Mellon for providing us with the opportunity to get in touch with our roots and give a true representation of our culture and heritage."

Further building on the university’s global presence, Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Pittsburgh and the University of Porto's Business School EGP-UPBS in Porto, Portugal, recently announced a new dual-degree graduate program in engineering and business this fall.

The two-year program will give participants the opportunity of studying one year in Portugal at the University of Porto and another year in the U.S. at Carnegie Mellon. Students will receive a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon and an MBA The Magellan MBA, named after the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan from EGP-UPBS