Last week, private, non-profit organisation the Qatar Foundation (QF) announced a partnership agreement with French business institution HEC Paris to offer executive education programmes. According to the terms of the agreement, a full-time faculty will provide executive and short certificate programmes and corporate-specific training, including an Executive MBA, as well as engage in business-related research. The agreement makes HEC Paris not only the first European institution to join Education City, QF's flagship project, but the inaugural member of the organisation's Management Education and Research Centre (QF-MERC), an under-development initiative spearheading Qatar's transformation into a knowledge-based society. By adding senior management education to its educational and research initiatives, stakeholders are hoping that QF-MERC will contribute to the development of professional competencies deemed necessary for Qatari professionals to compete in a changing business environment. Why is QF collaborating with HEC Paris? What is QF-MERC, and which factors are driving its development? With which other institutions is QF likely to seek collaborative higher education partnerships, and why?