Abdulaziz Al-Horr

His Excellency Dr Abdulaziz bin Mohamed Al-Horr is Director of the Diplomatic Institute at Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a former Director of the Al Jazeera Media Training Centre and the network’s Corporate Development Bureau. His career brings together education, training, media, diplomacy, writing and entrepreneurship.

He was born into a traditional, conservative Qatari family. He was the fourth of eleven siblings, all of whom excelled as students; three earned doctorates and three earned master’s degrees.

Several influences helped shape his character and set him on the path to success. The first was memorising the Holy Qur’an: he learnt one-third of it in mosques and Qur’an memorisation centres supervised by the Ministry of Endowments. This strengthened his memory, eloquence and command of language, reinforced good values and helped him excel in literary subjects, particularly Arabic.

The second influence was school theatre. It developed his capacity for self-expression, confidence before an audience and sense of teamwork. Although he did not pursue acting professionally, he benefited greatly from the experience.

A third influence was the morning assembly and its activities, through which he developed public-speaking and recitation skills. He was among the students most eager to take part.

The fourth was memorising poetry and participating in poetic exchanges. An avid reader of poetry, he learnt numerous poems and verses by major poets from both the pre-Islamic and modern periods. The experience enriched his vocabulary and command of expression, metaphor and rhetoric, placing him ahead of his peers. By the end of this stage, he had begun attempting to write political poetry himself.

Although his secondary education was brief, it contained several important turning points. A promotion scheme allowed a student to complete two academic years in one; he decided to finish the first and second years of the science track within twelve months. He covered the second-year curriculum in an intensive two-month summer programme. Twelve students applied, three reached the selection stage, two entered the programme and he alone passed. Completing an eight-month science curriculum in two months gave him particular satisfaction. His family had hoped that he would enjoy the summer holiday, while several teachers warned that failure might leave him discouraged. One remedial-course teacher even advised him to stop studying because passing in two months seemed almost impossible. His determination prevailed, and he answered the teacher with a line of poetry.

He continued studying with considerable support from some of his classmates and succeeded. He describes this as one of the most rewarding successes of his academic and professional life, one that gave him the self-confidence needed for the achievements that followed.

Youth centres and sports clubs gave him early leadership experience. At Qatar Sports Club, he helped manage cultural activity at a time when the club was particularly active in that field, broadening his knowledge and strengthening his leadership skills. Strong secondary-school results led him to the College of Education. At the end of his first year, Dean Dr Abdel Fattah Saud told him, ‘People like you do not enter the College of Education.’ He replied, ‘If people like me do not enter, who will remain for the College?’ He graduated, became a university teaching assistant and later a professor. The Dean subsequently recalled their exchange and expressed pride in his academic progress.

During his university studies, he established the Chemical Society, the first specialist association in Qatar University’s history. It overcame numerous difficulties before becoming a reality, and he later served as its president.

The scouting movement also had a profound influence on him. An active member and leader of Qatar University’s rover scouts, he earned the Wood Badge and represented the University across the Gulf and the wider Arab world. He learnt self-reliance, leadership and teamwork, acquired scouting values and social skills and broadened his relationships with Qatari, Gulf and Arab youth. At the time, he also supervised youth activities at the Doha Youth Centre, one of Qatar’s most active youth centres.

At university, he founded Qatar’s first nasheed group. Its first release, ‘Al-Shorouk’, featured vocalists Aqeel Al-Janahi, Abdulrahman Al-Qaradawi, Fahd Al-Darwish, Ahmed Al-Sayyid, Abdullah Al-Ziyara and Abdul Hamid Mahmoud. The activities and skills of his university years shaped his social and leadership character, gave him rare opportunities and prepared him to become a teaching assistant at Qatar University’s College of Education.

Becoming a teaching assistant fulfilled a long-held ambition, yet the limited duties offered little opportunity for growth. He therefore applied immediately for a master’s programme in the United States. University rules normally required teaching assistants to serve longer before postgraduate study, so the matter reached Vice-President Dr Jaber Abdel Hamid. When Al-Horr explained that repetition without substantial training would not advance him, Dr Abdel Hamid agreed to approve the degree if he secured admission to a reputable university. Al-Horr produced an acceptance letter the next day. The Vice-President kept his promise and then met him at the end of each semester to review his coursework and research.

One lasting memory concerns a collection of books in the Vice-President’s field. Out of gratitude, the young teaching assistant bought the set as a gift, but the Vice-President refused it and insisted on paying, telling him, ‘I will accept no book from you as a gift unless you are its author.’ He paid for the books and gave Al-Horr all his own publications. The encounter planted a new ambition: to become a writer and author. That ambition soon became a compelling concern, desire and preoccupation.

Al-Horr earned his master’s degree in a notably short period, with high marks and considerable distinction. By the end of the programme, he had prepared a proposal for his doctoral thesis, opening the doors of several universities. He was admitted to Durham University, one of Britain’s leading universities, and enrolled in 1993, the year in which he completed his master’s degree.

He completed his doctoral thesis in a notably short period, gaining lessons and memories that influenced his academic and professional life and his approach to ideas. At their first meeting, his supervisor advised him to write every chapter clearly, simply and accessibly—in language that even a seven-year-old child could understand. He carried that standard beyond his doctorate, writing for readers at every level and avoiding needless display or complexity.

A second formative experience came early in his doctoral research. After drafting two chapters in less than two months, he approached his supervisor with considerable confidence. The response was blunt: ‘I wasted my time reading these chapters.’ The supervisor asked him to reduce 150 pages to five before they could continue. Shock kept him from writing for more than a week, but he eventually treated the criticism constructively and produced eight focused pages. At their next meeting, the supervisor approved the new direction. Al-Horr carried the lesson into all his later writing, weighing every sentence and concentrating on meaning.

A third lesson came shortly before his doctoral defence. When he asked his supervisor what to expect and how best to prepare, the supervisor offered neither reassurance nor a prediction; Al-Horr had to be ready for any question, assume full responsibility for the thesis and defend its method and findings rigorously. The uncertainty placed him under considerable pressure, but the thesis was approved without amendment. He came to value a supervisor who had made him accountable for every word, and carried that discipline into the rest of his professional and personal life.

The dissertation used several tools to collect quantitative and qualitative data and took two years and four months to complete. Because the minimum period was three years, his supervisor had to ask the university’s senior administration to permit an early defence, confirming that the research met every academic requirement and was ready for examination. Al-Horr thus completed his doctorate in the shortest possible period. Only after returning to Qatar, when local newspapers congratulated him and reported that he was the youngest Qatari researcher to hold a doctorate, did he appreciate the significance of the achievement.

His first substantive post after graduation was in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods, specialising in science curricula, at Qatar University. His growing interest in training meant that he worked as both teacher and trainer. Drawing on his experience and desire to enter the field, he chose leadership training—a decision that had lasting consequences. He gradually moved away from curricula and towards leadership, strategic planning and institutional work.

His interest in writing and publishing also grew. His first work was ‘How Do Qatari Elites Think About Developing Education?’, followed by ‘The School of the Future’, the book that established his name in education and future learning. He wrote it while serving as a visiting professor at the University of Oxford, drawing on the University’s libraries, references and academic expertise.

He next published ‘Education, Development and Renaissance’, which considered what kind of education serves what kind of development, and what kind of development serves what kind of renaissance. The book received an international award. ‘The Future School Tools’ followed, offering a broad range of practical resources for professionals at different levels of education. He also published several other books in varied fields.

After Qatar University, he joined the Ministry of Education as Assistant Undersecretary for Planning and Curricula and Director of the Technical Office for Educational Development. Before the appointment, he met His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani for forty-five minutes to discuss education. One statement remained with him: ‘You are entering a major phase of change. Our expectations are high, and if your changes produce no reaction, you have not changed anything.’ Al-Horr understood this as a call for substantial rather than superficial reform. He adopted the principle throughout his career, accepting that meaningful change may generate resistance, rejection or scepticism.

That meeting and the period that followed formed an important stage in the young academic’s career. Through a new strategy and a project establishing science schools for boys and girls, he turned ideas into practical initiatives that prepared generations to enter and excel at leading universities. He also established a workshop to make low-cost equipment and develop curricula. Twenty-eight projects were presented to the education sector during the tenure of Dr Mohamed Abdulrahim Kafoud as Minister of Education and Higher Education.

After years at the Ministry of Education and extensive work on programmes supporting education in Qatar, he joined the Arab centre for Educational Training for the Gulf States, which develops educational leaders across the region. The centre adopted current international approaches to training and produced projects on thinking skills, training packages, scientific standards and publications including ‘Learning Together’. Al-Horr then moved into professional training, earned an international certificate and developed manuals and programmes for institutions including Qatar Foundation, Silatech and Qatar Charity. Working in both Arabic and English, he trained educational institutions and commercial organisations in leadership and education. This phase became central to his professional development.

After completing his contribution to the Arab centre for Educational Training, Al-Horr moved into a field entirely different from education. He assumed the leadership of the newly established Al Jazeera Media Training Centre. During his tenure, he helped take Al Jazeera’s name to a global audience and contributed to its evolution from a satellite news channel into a school of media with its own principles, values, practices and experience.

From its establishment, the Al Jazeera Media Training Centre became the principal platform for sharing Al Jazeera’s television-journalism experience with young people and media leaders seeking to change the Arab media landscape. Al-Horr took responsibility for developing a model that could carry the network’s spirit, values and practices into wider arenas.

He faced three principal challenges. The first was training expertise: transferring the knowledge of Al Jazeera’s leading professionals to ambitious young Arabs. The second was curriculum strength: building a curriculum that represented the Al Jazeera school. The third was the strength of the team: preparing trainers and technicians able to create and manage the training process.

Al-Horr worked to overcome these challenges and turn the dream of an Arab school of television journalism into reality. Between 2007 and 2012, the Centre developed a group of programmes distinctive to Al Jazeera in both form and content. Their curricula were built on a rigorous foundation and delivered in a manner consistent with the network’s experience, knowledge and standards in television journalism and other media fields.

He championed what was then described as ‘in-depth media’ and translated the concept into practical plans, programmes and curricula. He believed that ‘knowledge is power and knowledge is a right’, and that Al Jazeera’s mission was to make that power available to everyone seeking to enter any field of journalism.

After completing his mission at Al Jazeera, Al-Horr made another major transition, becoming Chief Executive Officer of the Qatar Finance and Business Academy. He focused on developing Qatari talent for a financial and banking sector that urgently needed qualified national professionals. Programmes included ‘Kawader’, which prepared young Qataris for finance and banking, and ‘Future CEO’, which trained a cohort of emerging leaders, many of whom later assumed senior positions. He also established a Qatar branch of Britain’s Northumbria University and launched joint programmes in finance, banking and business.

At the beginning of 2018, he brought the experience accumulated across several professions to Qatari diplomacy. With ambassadorial rank, he became Director of the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the final appointment of his professional career. Serving diplomats required programmes, relationships and methods unlike those of education, media or finance, again testing the adaptability that had enabled him to move successfully between sectors. At the Institute, he introduced initiatives related to professional diplomatic training, including executive master’s programmes with Georgetown University and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He built links and signed agreements with leading training institutes around the world, arranging study visits that expanded Qatari trainees’ expertise. He believed that this preparation contributed to the effectiveness of Qatari diplomats in negotiation and crisis management across Africa, Europe and Asia, including during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He developed the Institute by giving talented colleagues room to contribute and drawing on external institutional expertise. Al Jazeera specialists and other leading experts in Qatar delivered high-level training courses.

During this period, he expanded his academic output. His books included ‘Diplomacy, Leadership and Power’, ‘Development Cooperation’, ‘An Analysis of His Highness’s Speeches’, covering the period from His Highness’s assumption of power to the address to the elected Shura Council in 2022, ‘Qatari–Chinese Relations’ and ‘Qatari–Japanese Relations’, issued for the fiftieth anniversary of those relationships. He also published a book on writing political and economic reports and other works of which he is proud.

Between his work at the Academy and the Diplomatic Institute, he published a book on containment theory in foreign policy. He presented it as a new approach within political science, extending soft-power theory and applying it to the foreign policy of Qatar. Articles, research papers and master’s and doctoral theses subsequently examined the theory and its applications.

He also developed ‘The Diplomat’ into a specialist magazine addressing subjects of practical value to diplomats. Its issues examined the blockade of Qatar, preventive diplomacy, sports diplomacy, economic diplomacy, ASEAN, the European Union, the African Union and South America, providing knowledge relevant to diplomatic work.

Across this varied career, he received several awards and honours, including the first State Encouragement Award for Education; the Ali bin Abdullah International Award for ‘Education, Development and Renaissance’; the European organisation for Quality Award; and the International Federation for Business and Leadership Award. These and other honours recognised his academic and professional efforts and achievements.

Several decisions shaped his academic, professional and personal path. Choosing the College of Education established a direction consistent with his interests and remained a source of pride. Choosing his life partner was equally important: she accompanied him through difficulty and success and played a major role in his achievements. Together, they raised five children, each of whom developed a distinctive character and excelled in a chosen field.

University and academic work formed another important stage in his life, directing his interests and developing his practical and scholarly abilities. It resulted in more than twenty works, including research papers, studies, books and academic articles whose influence he expects to endure.

Serving in an early leadership role as Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Education gave him extensive experience, relationships and challenges. It became an influential model from which he learnt and drew knowledge.

Beyond government posts, he pursued entrepreneurship and private enterprise, founding a group of companies that strengthened his leadership skills and helped realise several personal ambitions. He learnt that success in the private sector requires skills very different from those needed in government.

Al-Horr established a stable, balanced family of five successful children in different fields: Ghada, Mohammed, Abdullah, Hamad and Faisal. Ghada, the eldest, works at the Central Bank and has two children, he—named after his grandfather—and Alia. Mohammed graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, works at the Qatar Investment Authority and holds the international CFA qualification in investment. Abdullah also graduated from Carnegie Mellon and serves as an officer at the Ministry of Interior. The twins, Hamad and Faisal, study at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom: Hamad reads engineering and Faisal management.