Georgetown University: School of Foreign Service in Qatar

When Lubna Kayyali (SFS ’09) was a first-year student at Georgetown’s Qatar campus, she signed up as a committee chair for the inaugural School of Foreign Service in Qatar Model United Nations Conference, hosted in March 2006. “It was unique because it was my first time to be around students from so many different backgrounds,” Kayyali said.

That conference was the first in what has become an annual event at SFS-Qatar, one in which students, staff, and faculty work together to host more than 350 high school students from around the world for four days of political simulations. Now Kayyali is a senior and preparing for her role as Chair of the World Health Organization in her final MUN at SFS-Qatar, which will run from January 29 to February 1, 2009.“It’s wonderful to see MUN grow and become more diverse and popular. I feel that this will be a nice closure to my undergraduate experience,” Kayyali said.

This year’s group of students will gather from 38 countries as far away as Mexico, Sweden and the Philippines to debate issues in international politics with one another, in eight committees chaired by Georgetown SFS-Qatar students. They will discuss a variety of topics confronting world leaders today, such as Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, NATO’s role in Afghanistan and disengagement in Iraq.

Interest in SFS-Qatar MUN has grown exponentially over the past four years. As word of the conference spread through the international high school circuit, the 2009 application process resulted in the acceptance of only 40 schools of the more than 70 that applied. “We were overwhelmed by the interest this year,” said Kathryn King, who oversees the planning and organization of the conference. “We aim to be a forum for students of diverse backgrounds to practice diplomacy and develop leadership skills, but perhaps more importantly to learn from and to listen to one another.”

Having advised students since that inaugural conference in 2006, Brendan Hill believes that MUN plays an important role in students’ personal development as well as knowledge of the world around them. “SFS-Qatar MUN permits our students to take the lead in educating the world’s youth on the importance of dialogue in resolving international disputes and encouraging collective action,” he said.

Dana Al Kahlout (SFS ’09), a student assistant for the last three years, was amazed by the transformation she has seen among students participating in the event. “At first they’re awkward and sometimes afraid of speaking up; however, as soon as the first committee session is over they became very confident to the extent that you can see their eyes glow when asked about their country’s role,” she said.

SFS-Qatar students have been preparing for the conference since last January, assisting in the content, planning and logistics. In July 2008, ten students participated as delegates in The European International Model United Nations (TEIMUN), a college-level conference hosted in The Hague. Additionally, SFS-Qatar students hosted an MUN training day for high school students in Qatar in November 2008. Lending extra support to the conference is the student-run International Relations Club, which organizes sessions prior to the conference on parliamentary procedures and guidelines for chairing a committee.