Education City Stadium to be home to two QF schools

After the cheers of the fans who will pack into Education City Stadium for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ matches have subsided, the venue’s name will become even more appropriate – as it becomes home to two progressive Qatar Foundation schools.

Academyati and Qatar Academy for Science and Technology (QAST), both part of Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Pre-University Education, are to be based at the 40,000-capacity stadium once it moves into its legacy phase once the Middle East’s first World Cup is over.

The completion of Education City Stadium - known as the ‘Diamond in the Desert’ and housed within QF’s hub of education, research and innovation, and community development - was announced this week by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy. After staging matches up to the quarter-final stage of the tournament, part of the stadium will house buildings for each school, as well as a third building with facilities for both.

Buthaina Ali Al Nuaimi, President of Pre-University Education, QF, said: “Education City Stadium has always been intended to create a legacy, and this will be perfectly reflected in its post-World Cup role as a center for learning, creativity, and discovery.

“Students enrolled at the two progressive Qatar Foundation schools that are to be based within this venue will find their learning journey gaining extra impetus from their inspirational surroundings, where the stadium itself acts as a conveyor of knowledge about the importance of innovation, sustainability, and health and wellbeing.

“With Academyati and Qatar Academy for Science and Technology being a vibrant part of its precinct, Education City Stadium will have a true community feel once the World Cup has concluded. The young learners who begin to develop the skills that will shape their lives within the stadium will be a living embodiment of its enduring value to Qatar, illustrating that while this is a wonderful sporting venue, it is also so much more.”

Established in 2019, Academyati is an innovative school with an educational ethos based on student agency and each child’s interests, placing an emphasis on experiential learning and tailoring its learning models to individual students. Its school building will include 23 core learning spaces, as well as space for visual arts and music education and a multi-purpose sports hall, and be capable of catering to students aged 3-18.

The QAST building will house 12 learning studios, three science labs and an entrepreneurial lab, woodwork and technology studios, electronic and metal shops, and spaces for graphic design and video production, as well as a Maker Space. “Qatar Academy for Science and Technology has been designed from the ground up to provide Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics [STEM] programs of study that empower our students to become innovators who master the knowledge and skills required to create solutions for challenges that face Qatar and the world,” said Dr. Gregory Moncada, Director of QAST.

“Students develop a personalized program of studies in engineering, computer science, and biological sciences, and participate in research and internships within Qatar Foundation’s diverse community of universities and research and development laboratories. Our students conduct authentic research and problem-solving by way of our award-winning CRISP curriculum, and in the last two years students have taken challenging A-Level or AP courses that allow them to compete for seats at some of the world’s best universities.

“We are privileged to be near Education City Stadium and Academyati, in a destination that is sure to become a vibrant hub of progressive learning and exciting sport.”

Education City Stadium is the third FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ venue to be completed, and the first World Cup stadium to be awarded a five-star sustainability rating under the Global Sustainability Assessment System.

The legacy plan for the stadium will see it become a sporting, leisure, education, and social hub for QF and the wider Qatar community after the World Cup, when its capacity will be halved and 20,000 of its seats donated to support the construction of stadiums in developing countries.