Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar

Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar opened in 1998 and was the first American branch campus in Doha's Education City. It teaches art and design and awards Virginia Commonwealth University degrees. Its parent institution's School of the Arts is among the most highly ranked public art and design schools in the United States, and the Qatar campus teaches within that tradition. For a Kazakh applicant with a strong portfolio, this offers something specific: an American art and design degree without American tuition, in a country whose student visa is far easier to obtain than an F-1, with need-based aid available at the Education City campuses. The comparison worth making is with the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, which is ranked among the strongest art schools in the world and charges Chinese fees, but teaches entirely in Chinese with HSK required. This route requires no second language at all.