When Cultures Connect: The Story of College of the North Atlantic in Qatar

If you had heard a decade ago that Newfoundland and Labrador’s public education system would be teaching the labour force of an Arab nation to process oil and natural gas, you might have thought you were dreaming. It may have seemed too ambitious for any educational system.

But the College of the North Atlantic (CNA) has taken its 45 years of know-how in providing accredited, industry-linked programming for its own province and country, and successfully applied it to delivering custom training in the Persian Gulf to one of the richest countries in the world.

CNA made history in 2001, securing the largest international education contract ever awarded to a Canadian educational institution (U.S. $500 million), when it was chosen by the Middle East State of Qatar to establish a world-class technical college in its capital city of Doha.

Just as CNA’s graduates are in demand throughout the globe, whether it be with Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company, the United Nations or Stephen Spielberg’s DreamWorks in Hollywood, it makes sense that the reputation of the college would follow. And CNA has followed through in spades.

As we approach the 10-year anniversary of this union, its progeny has grown far beyond expectations. Since opening its doors in 2002, the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) has gone from a student enrollment of 300 to 3,000 and from a staff complement of 50 to well over 600; it has expanded to add a number of programs, custom-designed for the needs of the State; and it has generated more than $45 million in revenue for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which was reinvested back into the public education system. In addition, CNA-Q employees are in essence CNA employees and continue to pay their provincial and federal taxes back home, to the tune of $2.2 and $7.5 million respectively.

But more so than producing substantial benefits to CNA’s provincial operations, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole, and indeed, the country, this experience – the Qatar experience – goes deeper. This melding of cultures has had particularly significant consequence for those Canadians who staff the campus, and their families who have accompanied them to the Middle East.

There are young single people, married couples and retirees drawn to this beautiful place called Qatar. Canadians are getting married and having babies there, travelling to exotic locales they had only dreamed of, and gaining international teaching experience that will serve them admirably in future professional endeavors.

Keith Bonnell taught mathematics at the campus for five years before returning to Newfoundland in 2009. It wasn’t long before he and his wife decided to go back to Qatar, returning this year. He thinks back to their initial interest in the opportunity and refers to the “collective of pleasant anticipations and expectations” that draws many people there, such as the attractive package of pay and benefits, the opportunity to immerse self and family in a new exotic culture, world travel, escape from the harsh Canadian winters and the value of a career in international education. However, he adds, what brought them there was becoming a very small part of what was keeping them there.

“We had fallen in love with the soul of the place, with its very essence… as time passed, our day-to-day experiences on campus and in the city and country were subtly weaving themselves in the fabric of our very being. These experiences and this place were actually becoming an integral part of who we are and how we define ourselves, both individually and as a collective of professional colleagues at our college,” says Bonnell.

Some 500 Canadians are currently working at CNA-Q. They and their families are developing a global mindset that will broaden their horizons and open doors for the rest of their lives.

Julianna Deveau, 12, was three years old when her parents took jobs at CNA-Q. They were among the first group of CNA employees to work at the new campus. In the five years they were there, Julianna and her younger brother, Alex, had the opportunity to travel with their parents to exotic places such as Egypt, Kenya, Belgium and Germany.

“In Africa we went on a safari and got really close to lions and crocodiles,” she says, her eyes lighting up, “and in Egypt, we walked into a pyramid right to the tomb. I thought I would see a mummy!”

The family lived in a villa in Doha, inside one of several gated communities CNA-Q arranges for their employees with families. Julianna says it was great to have a pool, gym and playground in her community, along with the After School program, where she could hang out with her best friend, Mackenzie. Her mom, Mary, remembers how relaxed an atmosphere it was, and how ideal a place to raise her family.

“The kids had so much freedom in the community – bike riding, swimming, back and forth to friends’ houses,” says Mary. “We had to teach them about safety when we came back here to Canada!”

The ripple effect of the project is beyond measure; and the benefits to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Canada are far-reaching.

To mention a few: It created a fresh focus for Newfoundland and Labrador as a tourist destination; the reputation of the province has grown, as CNA became well known for best practices in international education, resulting in partnerships with universities in the UK, U.S. and the Caribbean; accrediting bodies such as the Canadian Medical Association have expanded their accreditation reach to include CNA curriculum abroad; through partnerships with CNA and Qatar, Canadian colleges and universities can access substantial funding for applied research; and myriad untapped business opportunities exist in Qatar for Newfoundland and Labrador firms in the area of oil and gas and the import/export of goods and services.

With the collective strength of Newfoundland and Labrador’s burgeoning industries in oil and gas, mining, manufacturing and now in education, these currents of change are bound to carry us to every shore in this global village we call earth.