Qatar’s Minister of Education and Higher Education, Lolwah bint Rashid bin Mohammed Al Khater, has said quality assurance in higher education is moving from compliance with standards towards measuring the actual impact of education. She was speaking at the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Forum in Doha, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported on 8 October 2026.

According to QNA, the minister said the concept of quality was no longer limited to meeting requirements but had become linked to the extent of the educational process’s impact on students, institutions and society. She said integrating these approaches contributes to a new concept of academic accreditation that goes beyond periodic document reviews to continuously measuring educational impact through modern technologies.

Reach of the national accreditation committee

The minister said the National Committee for Qualifications and Academic Accreditation, established in 2022, has drawn on regional and international expertise, and that more than 50 percent of higher education institutions in Qatar are now engaged in its processes, whether as accredited institutions, candidates for accreditation or institutions preparing self-study reports. QNA’s report does not name the institutions or give a total count.

She put the size of higher education systems in the Arab region at more than 13 million students in about 1,200 institutions. She said papers and workshops at the forum were re-examining quality assurance tools, including authentic assessment and the protection of academic integrity as artificial intelligence tools that can generate text and answer questions spread, which requires greater focus on measuring what students have actually learned. She added that data and analytics tools for tracking enrolment, retention and graduation support decision-making without replacing human expertise.

The forum was organised by the committee in cooperation with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in the United States. The committee’s chairman, Professor Dr Mazen Omar Hasna, said 86 research papers were submitted and 56 accepted, alongside four specialised workshops and more than 500 registered participants. Dr Jokha Abdullah Hamoud Al Shukaili, President of the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, said the challenge was how to use artificial intelligence responsibly and ethically while preserving the originality of academic work.

What was not announced

QNA’s report does not describe any change to the committee’s standards, a timetable for moving to impact-based accreditation, new data requirements for institutions, or whether accreditation will become compulsory for institutions not yet engaged. The minister said she hoped the forum’s recommendations would help institutions turn research findings into practice; the recommendations were not included in the report.

QNA’s report came six days after the Saudi Press Agency reported, on 2 October 2026, that Saudi Arabia’s Education and Training Evaluation Commission had been recognised by CHEA for seven years.

What it means

TED analysis:

  • For institutions in Qatar: the minister’s language points towards accreditation that tracks outcomes such as retention and graduation continuously, rather than only at review points. Institutions outside the committee’s processes may face more questions as its reach grows.
  • For edtech and data suppliers: the stated interest in analytics for enrolment, retention and graduation, and in assessment that holds up against AI tools, points to future demand from the regulator and institutions, although no programme or procurement was announced.
  • For Gulf regulators: with Saudi Arabia’s ETEC recognised by CHEA and Qatar’s committee running a forum with CHEA, US accreditation practice is becoming a shared reference point for national quality agencies in the region.