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Feb. 9 (UPI) — Texas A&M University said Friday it plans to shut down its Qatar campus over the next four years due to unrest in the region.
University officials in a statement said the decision will not immediately affect campus operations. University administration will assemble a team to ensure students complete their education, faculty and staff are supported, and research obligations are fulfilled.
The university said its board of regents decided to re-evaluate the Qatar campus in fall of 2023 “due to the heightened instability in the Middle East.”
Board Chair Bill Mahomes said, “The core mission of Texas A&M should be advanced primarily within Texas and the United States,” adding that the university doesn’t need a campus 8,000 miles away to support education and research collaborations.
Texas A&M at Qatar opened in 2003 as a research hub for chemical, electrical, mechanical, and petroleum engineering. It is one of six U.S. universities in Education City, Qatar.
“The work in Qatar is great work … but it is a fraction of what Texas A&M accomplishes year after year,” Mahomes said, noting Texas A&M and its affiliates collaborate on research with about 30 other nations without operating a physical campus in those countries.
Qatar has had a seat at the table in negotiating a cease-fire and hostage release between Israel and Hamas, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected the plan as “delusional” and an Israeli surrender.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas’ demands, including a permanent end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, were nonstarters, but there still is “space” to work out a viable, long-term peace in the Middle East.