Some of the worlds most prestigious media organisations, from news and fashion to public relations and filmmaking, will be training students from Northwestern University in Qatar this spring. Fourteen NU-Q students, seven of whom are Qatari nationals, have been selected for professional residencies at organisations that include The Financial Times in New York City, The […]
Some of the worlds most prestigious media organisations, from news and fashion to public relations and filmmaking, will be training students from Northwestern University in Qatar this spring.
Fourteen NU-Q students, seven of whom are Qatari nationals, have been selected for professional residencies at organisations that include The Financial Times in New York City, The Huffington Post, also in New York City, and Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines in London.
They will begin their 10-week residencies on February 20. Jawaher Al-Naimi, a junior who is heading to Hearst Magazines in London for an internship at Cosmopolitan magazine and Company magazine, hopes to eventually start her own national womens magazine that goes beyond fashion and gossip to deal with societal issues overlooked in local newspapers.
“The magazine industry is better suited to in-depth feature stories and creative writing- areas where I think Qatar still has space to grow,” says Al-Naimi.
On why she is looking forward to her residency at Hearst Magazines, Al-Naimi says, “This is an opportunity to hone my feature-writing skills and improve my understanding of what it takes to run a successful publication.”
Her classmate Mouza Al Derham, who has an internship in public relations at Bloomsbury Publishing in London, also spoke of applying the skills she cultivates abroad to the industry in her native Qatar. “Im intrigued by the idea of opening a publishing house here – I know that there are talented writers in Qatar and the region and I want their stories to be heard,” says Al Derham.
“This residency is my chance to test the skills Ive gained through classes at NU-Q in the real world,” said Al Derham.
The experience that undergraduates gain during their residency programmes is considered critical and Northwestern University in Qatar has made it a mandatory component of the schools Journalism degree.
“Northwestern University in Qatar believes that leadership comes from the ability to put big-picture ideas into practice, and these residencies give our students a chance to do just that. We are confident that the host organisations will be impressed with our students’ ability to engage high-level thinking about media issues, as well as to apply and develop their practical skills,” says NU-Q Dean and CEO Everette Dennis.
Journalism senior Rana Khaled had the opportunity to put her NU-Q media skills and education into action during her residency at Al Jazeera in Washington, D.C., last spring, where she helped the network launch its revolutionary social media news programme “The Stream.” Khaled says: “My professional residency has been the highlight of my undergraduate experience so far – it gave me real insight into the workings of an international news channel. I worked directly with the programme directors and producers and built relationships there that have become part of a valuable professional network for my future career.”
After returning from her residency, Khaled went on to produce a documentary on Arab hip hop with her classmates that received regional and international attention. Khaled currently has two more documentaries in the pipeline and is preparing to graduate from NU-Qs Journalism programme in May.
