pnguyen--but there is the social factor as well. How many conservative Muslim families are prepared to send their 18-year-old daughters to the U.S. or Europe for a high quality education?
From a profitability standpoint in the short term, I agree. However, take away Education City and you would be severely limiting female opportunities. And let's face it, Qataris are so outnumbered that educating women into professional position will be essential to the country's independence. In that since, Education City is priceless.
The other factor, of course, is the global visibility. Educational investment demonstrates civility, culture, long-term planning, etc. And you get more bang for your buck in publicity by bringing in world-class universities than creating good secondary schools. If you want to push the point, why not take all the money invested in 2022 and put it in secondary education (it's a lot more and a soccer tournament is not going to make much of impact on the long-term success of Qatar the way a good secondary education system will).
pnguyen--but there is the social factor as well. How many conservative Muslim families are prepared to send their 18-year-old daughters to the U.S. or Europe for a high quality education?
From a profitability standpoint in the short term, I agree. However, take away Education City and you would be severely limiting female opportunities. And let's face it, Qataris are so outnumbered that educating women into professional position will be essential to the country's independence. In that since, Education City is priceless.
The other factor, of course, is the global visibility. Educational investment demonstrates civility, culture, long-term planning, etc. And you get more bang for your buck in publicity by bringing in world-class universities than creating good secondary schools. If you want to push the point, why not take all the money invested in 2022 and put it in secondary education (it's a lot more and a soccer tournament is not going to make much of impact on the long-term success of Qatar the way a good secondary education system will).