President Lehman: "engagement with the world is part of our mission"

In October 2004, Cornell University President, Jeffrey S. Lehman, met members of the press at a round table discussion. Among the main themes of his talk were the emergence of the transnational university, and latest developments at WCMC-Q, the newest campus of the University - and the first outside the U.S.

President Lehman spoke about his regular visits to WCMC-Q, his meetings with the students, and the developing links between Cornellians on the three campuses in Ithaca, New York City and Doha.

Journalists from news agencies, the local English- and Arabic-language dailies, and the New York Daily News also put their questions to him.

Lehman outlined the importance to Cornell of building partnerships of different kinds across the world: "We are looking for world-class partners - the very finest institutions who we look to as colleagues and peers."

Describing Qatar‘s Education City as "extraordinarily visionary," President Lehman said that its success has become recognised and admired across the globe.

Asked about standards at WCMC-Q, Lehman noted that the selection process is extremely painstaking. "This is the only example of an American university providing an M.D. outside the U.S., and it‘s very important to us that the future doctors be the finest doctors in the world. So we are very careful."

Standards are extremely high, he added: "We have been very proud of the quality of the students that we have admitted here - they have been absolutely world-class. And they do work very hard to make sure that they realize their potential."

In response to a question about the difficulties faced by international students seeking visas to study in the U.S, Lehman said that Cornell, along with other universities, was keen to see a supplemental review procedure for this category of visa applicants, in order to speed up the processing of their applications.