The partnership between the University of South Carolina’s Department of Sport and Entertainment Management and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) in Doha, Qatar is thriving and its future is bright.
The academic collaboration agreement between the universities was established in 2019 and extended earlier this year. It allows HBKU students to earn a Master of Sport and Entertainment Management (MSEM) degree, with a joint diploma acknowledging both institutions. USC’s MSEM program is ranked No. 9 worldwide and No. 6 in the U.S. in the 2025 SportBusiness Postgraduate Course Rankings. The joint program with HBKU is ranked No. 7 globally and No. 1 in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region.
“We are excited to be the only university in the world to have two master’s degree programs ranked in the top 10. It shows the all-around quality, expertise, and dedication of the faculty at both institutions,” says USC Department of Sport and Entertainment Management International Graduate Program Director Nicholas Watanabe. “We've graduated more and more students every year, which is great. We have students who are doing the thesis track who go on to do Ph.D. programs all over the world, as well as professional track students who work in the industry, most of them in the MENA region, but also in other areas. It's also created wonderful opportunities for collaboration for research, teaching, and even submitting grant proposals,”
The joint master’s degree curriculum was designed by faculty from USC and HBKU working in collaboration, and USC faculty members regularly travel to Qatar to teach classes.
This partnership gives students the opportunity, both from our USC campus and the HBKU campus, to work in exciting places around the world. Our goal is to keep growing it so that we have a wider impact.
“I think the partnership between HBKU and South Carolina has delivered significant benefits to both universities as well as the students,” says HBKU College of Science and Engineering Associate Professor Kamilla Swart-Arries, who leads the partnership on the HBKU side. “The partnership has enabled HBKU to leverage South Carolina's global expertise given that it's ranked among the top programs worldwide. We’ve been able to offer electives aligned with industry trends such as the business of esport, and in 2023 HBKU hosted the World Association of Sport Management Conference for the first time in the region. This created the opportunity to profile the partnership and attract even more international attention. The joint degree aligns with Qatar’s national vision and priorities for developing a sustainable sport industry.”
The growth of the program has coincided with the increasing prominence of Qatar as a hub for major sporting competitions. In 2022, the country became the first Arab nation to host the world’s most watched sporting event, the FIFA World Cup. The long list of upcoming events includes the FIFA’s U-17 World Cup and Arab Cup, the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup and many major Formula 1 races and professional tennis tournaments.
“It's an exciting time to be there,” Watanabe says. “There's explosive growth throughout the region. It's an important time for us to be able to help shape the future of the industry in these areas as well as find the best opportunities for our students. It's a global international world, and this partnership gives students the opportunity, both from our USC campus and the HBKU campus, to work in exciting places around the world. Our goal is to keep growing it so that we have a wider impact. It's already not just students from the MENA region now. We have students from across Asia and South America who are also attending the program.”
USC’s sport and entertainment management program is world-renowned for uniting theory and practice at the highest level, offering students constant opportunities for experiential learning by putting classroom lessons into practice. That philosophy extends to HBKU as well.
“The joint degree stands the students in good stead for global career prospects in that they have an internationally recognized degree. And in terms of our program, it’s very much hands-on, direct real-world experiences, especially in relation to internships, joint research projects and applied research,” says Swart-Arries.
The global COVID pandemic delayed some plans after the partnership’s launch in 2019, but the ambitions remain as the program grows.
“I'd like to see us develop this further to the point where we also see South Carolina students spending time in Qatar and vice versa. I'd also like to see our faculty co-teach or guest lecture on site at South Carolina,” Swart-Arries says.
Watanabe says the program is already opening doors and creating opportunities for students both in South Carolina and Qatar, and hopes for even more impact.
“Some of our students and faculty did a collaboration project with the HBKU marketing class that worked in conjunction with Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (PSG) and Quest Esports. So basically, the organization that is literally champion of Europe and one of the top esport teams and we were doing marketing research projects for them. So that's opening all kinds of doors. If the students take the initiative, they have a chance to do some amazing things in the program, both here and at HBKU. And we're looking to grow, do joint study abroad programs, all of these things in the future.”