CS: Culture shock or computer science?

Abstract

The state of Qatar has embarked upon a novel challenging experiment of massively investing in its education and research infrastructures with the goal set on becoming a knowledge-based economy by 2030. World class institutions, such as Carnegie Mellon University, were therefore invited to offer identical versions of some of their undergraduate programs in Qatar. Numerous challenges inevitably emerged as a result of this rough transition that our students experience, particularly within Computer Science, which initially led to large attrition rates during the first few years. In this paper, we discuss some of these challenges that particularly occur during the first year. We shed some light on strategies taken in our revamped Computer Science introductory Freshmen Immigration course. We share our experience with how this course helped smooth this transition for first year students to make their experience more exciting and rewarding.