The Daily Q Investigates: What is happening with the EBDA leadership programs?

Oma Seddiq, Staff Reporter

 

EBDA Awards 2016, where students were awarded bronze, silver or gold award based on the number of programs they took part in. [Photo: ebda.qa]
EBDA Awards 2016, where students were awarded bronze, silver or gold award based on the number of programs they took part in. [Photo: ebda.qa]

The EBDA leadership development initiative at Hamad Bin Khalifa University Student Center has cancelled most of its programs or made them exclusive to Hamad Bin Khalifa University students.

According to Nora Al-Ajmi, program coordinator at HBKU Student Life, only LeaderShape, a week-long residential leadership program, will continue to be open to all Education City students. Not Your Average Spring Break, an annual international service-learning program, will be offered to HBKU students only, according to the 2016-17 HBKU Student Life brochure.

EBDA officially launched in September 2014 as a partnership between HBKU, Qatar University and Maersk Oil. Over the past two years, EBDA offered eight tailor-made programs every year to develop leadership skills among students. Available opportunities included local programs like LeaderShape and Desert Challenge, an overnight training session in leadership and teamwork at Fuwairat Beach, as well as international experience-based trips like Outward Bound Oman and NYASB. EBDA also organized local leadership conferences and seminars, which were open to Qatar University students too.

The Leadership Council, a committee of students selected from across EC to organize and execute EBDA programs, were informed in an email on Aug. 2 this year that the committee “will no longer exist” due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

“We were just informed that the Leadership Council had unfortunately been cancelled, no further notifications were given. It was sudden and unexpected, but not entirely surprising because I knew they were trying to reshape the program massively, which can be challenging for sure,” said Urooj Kamran Azmi, a senior at Northwestern University in Qatar who was selected to serve on the 2016-17 Leadership Council. “I was kind of disappointed that it didn’t work out because I was really looking forward to trying to organize my own leadership programs in my senior year.”

According to Fazail Ahmad, a senior at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar who served on the Leadership Council last year, EBDA had been dealing with changes when he had joined in fall 2015.

“EBDA program faced setback last year due to loss of sponsorship from one of the sponsors. Despite the changes, programs like We Are Leaders at Qatar and LeaderShape proved to be extremely successful. Our general belief was that EBDA would continue to thrive,” he said.

Despite multiple attempts by the Daily Q, HBKU Student Life refused to comment further on details about the scope of EBDA this year or why the changes took place.

LeaderShape and NYASB appear to be the only two EBDA programs offered this year. The HBKU Student Life brochure doesn’t mention NYASB in reference to EBDA, so it is unclear whether the two programs will be offered under EBDA or if EBDA will officially cease to exist. EBDA’s website and social media pages have not been updated with any information since last spring.

EBDA booth at HBKU Student Center [Photo: Shakeeb Asrar]
EBDA booth at HBKU Student Center [Photo: Shakeeb Asrar]
The student affairs departments at other branch campuses in EC have also not received any official details about EBDA.

“We do not have information about their plans for these programs [including LeaderShape] for this academic year,” said Greg Bergida, director of student affairs at NU-Q.

According to Uday Rosario, the service learning coordinator at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, he was informed in an email in August that LeaderShape will be continued but was given no further updates.

“We used to receive the EBDA booklet at the start of the term that we would share with the students at our Student Activities Fair,” Rosario said, adding that he did not receive any flyers this year.

This year, HBKU Student Center also did not host Ya Hala, an annual welcome-week event for Education City community or other EC-wide orientation programs, as it did in previous years. It is unclear whether these changes are part of wider changes in HBKU Student Life programing.


Correction: October 19, 2016
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Fazail Ahmad’s last name. The story has been corrected since then. 

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