Main campus students and faculty got a sneak peek Wednesday into a new addition to the Georgetown campus that is both familiar and far from home – the School of Foreign Service’s new site in Doha, Qatar.

Deans, professors and administrators from the Qatar campus led the information session meant to inform main campus students about the branch location, which opened in August.

Mohana Rajakumar, assistant dean for student affairs at the School of Foreign Service-Qatar, said the first class of 25 students at the SFS-Q location come from 11 countries, including Qatar, Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian territory.

“We have 16-year olds all the way up to 26, and we also have a married student, so we have a lot of differences,” she said.

Rajakumar said the class attended a commencement ceremony in August similar to the one incoming freshman attend annually on main campus.

“We are still developing our base here at Georgetown,” Rajakumar said. “[The Qatari] students are very aware of main campus.”

Many Georgetown distinguished faculty and administrators have visited the SFS-Q campus recently.

University President John J. DeGioia visited for a day earlier this month and met with area alumni and dignitaries.

Carol Lancaster, director of the Mortara Center for International Affairs and associate professor in the SFS, spoke of her experience at the information session.

The Qatar campus includes faculty and staff from main campus including graduate students Kathryn King, Margaret Daher and Gregg Deehan, who act as student ambassadors and teaching assistants.

“Overall, I think it is a very exciting opportunity,” Rajakumar said. “It is a great opportunity to get to know another part of the world.”

Wayne Davis, chair of the philosophy department, who visited the Qatar campus in August, addressed the cultural differences he found in Qatar.

“I was really stunned at how good the students were,” Davis said. “I didn’t find that there were any inhibitions about what could be said, what students could talk about.”

He added that there were few gender boundaries at the new campus.

“There was no sense that women were inferior. . You wouldn’t know you were in a different country.”

Students attend the Qatar program for four years and receive a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, like main campus students in the SFS. The students are currently being taught by six full-time faculty.

The only major currently offered is in international politics, but Rajakumar said that administrators are considering a certificate in American Studies. The core curriculum for students in Qatar is also similar to main campus SFS requirements, including a theology requirement, a pro-seminar and a language requirement.

“IPOL was chosen because it is the largest major in the SFS. It is also the most broad-based,” Charles King, associate government professor and chair of faculty of the SFS, said.

King, who manages SFS-Q’s student and academic ties with the main campus, said that students in Qatar are highly qualified.

“These are Georgetown students just like students here on this campus,” King said. “Most of them have gone through International Baccalaureate programs at very competitive high schools.”

The 25 students, 20 of whom live at home and five of whom are international students, will study English, philosophy, theology and history in addition to international affairs.

“From a philosophical point of view, there is the idea of introducing students to the U.S.,” King said.

University administrators hope to expand the Qatar program to approximately 100 students in coming years, according to the Qatar campus Web site.

The campus’ library is 300,000 square feet, roughly the size of the ICC but on only two floors, and there are plans to increase its current collection of 30,000 volumes to one million by 2008.

“They certainly have the facilities to take more students,” Davis said.