Northwestern has yet to finalize a contract to open a journalism and communication campus in the Middle East country Qatar, though administrators had hoped to open the campus this fall at the earliest, Medill Dean John Lavine and Communication Dean Barbara O’Keefe wrote in e-mail messages.

“We are further along with the negotiations, but we are still involved in them,” Lavine wrote.

He said more news could come in the next few weeks.

O’Keefe confirmed that the contract has not been signed, and wrote that NU is still in discussions with the Qatar Foundation but more “definite news” might be available in October.

If a contract is signed, NU will open a school in Education City, a complex of campuses located in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The Daily reported in April that plans were being finalized for an NU-led school to join schools sponsored by Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgetown, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth universities. Those five campuses are all funded by the Qatar Foundation, a private nonprofit organization founded in 1995.

Qatari officials approached NU seeking to open a journalism school, but after speaking with NU officials, the Qatari government decided to add a communication program, as well, Lavine told The Daily in April.

O’Keefe also told The Daily in April that the school would initially have 40 students, but she said she expects it will “grow over time.”

Half of the enrolled students would study journalism and half would study communication, Lavine said at the time.

In May, The Daily reported that a team of NU officials were in Qatar working on the contract. NU President Henry Bienen said Qatar’s Sheikha, Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, wanted the school to open in September, but Bienen was unsure whether NU could meet that deadline.

– Emily Glazer