TRAINING WIZARDS
In an effort to speed along the Omanization process, higher education and vocational institutes are aiming to increase post-graduate employment.
Over 80% of graduating students go directly into employment. In fact, our students are usually employed in their final year, before they graduate. The remainder continue on with their higher education or establish businesses. Higher education in Oman is re-orientating itself toward entrepreneurship. About five years ago we began offering specific entrepreneurial, management, HR, and soft-skill modules built into the engineering course; this is unique to CCE programs.
In addition to our academic programs, the I2I Institution-to-Industry initiative formally linked the college to industry by inviting alumni and influential professionals to advise the education sector on what best suits their needs. It is also a chance for us to obtain feedback on our graduates’ performance. We have involved industrial leaders in the design and review of programs. All skills that are needed for employment are embedded in the curriculum, rather than having separate programs to prepare students for job interviews.
Our student body comprises students from all over the GCC and the wider Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Africa, and Europe. What we offer is unprecedented in the UK and Singapore. Approximately 75% of our students are Omani, and around 4,000-5,000 students pass through our doors each year, from national and international aviation, industrial, and civil defense sectors. We are also the sole provider of training for the NATO in this part of the world.
Since 1983, the College of Banking and Financial Studies (CBFS) has always tried to align itself with the national strategic objective of training Omanis. The college is driven by the development objectives of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), and facilitates the corporate social responsibility of the commercial banks to place trained, professional Omanis in commanding positions in banking and finance. Improvements in education and human resources are essential for sustainable growth in Oman.
The National Training Institute (NTI) was set up in 1985 to help citizens improve their skills before entering the job market. We worked closely with the government, the Ministry of Manpower, the local population, and private sector companies to identify the needs of industry and train and recruit the right staff. Although the growth of higher education and colleges meant that companies were starting directly to employ college graduates, the need for competence development remained.
We have a huge number of students graduating from high school every year, and not all have the opportunity to get into a university or a college; vocational training is the solution. These government-funded programs offer students with an opportunity to be trained and acquire a job at the completion of that training. The institution’s role is to deliver the best quality of training and ensure that there is a skilled, productive individual at the end of the process.
My vision, is to reduce the number of students failing the first year dramatically; initially the figure stood at 25%-30%, so I proposed that we raise the GPA to 2.5, which is like a B- average, from a C. This caused distress for the students who just missed the bar, but the result was a rise in GPAs. Now, we have students above 3.0 and the number one student has a 3.82 in 2013. Some students have held strikes to lower GPA requirements, but good students want to keep it and want a challenge. This is my legacy.
TRAINING WIZARDS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Year In Review
To Diversification & Beyond
While in the medium term Oman has been catapulted back into the extraction game by enhanced oil recovery (EOR), earlier worries that exploitable reserves were fast depleting have spurred the government to ease the Sultanate's reliance on hydrocarbons.
read articleGuest Speaker
Alistair Burt, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Alistair Burt, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on the long relationship between the two countries, regional stability, and business opportunities in the Sultanate.
read articleGuest Speaker
Melanie Schultz van Haegen, Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment , The Netherlands
Melanie Schultz van Haegen, Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment of the Netherlands, on the history between the two countries, regional prominence, and future agreements.
read articleInside Perspective
HH Sayyid Faisal bin Turki Al Said, Director General, Marketing & Media, PAIPED
HH Sayyid Faisal bin Turki Al Said, Director General, Marketing & Media, of the Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development (PAIPED), on competitiveness, growth, free zones, infrastructure, logistics, tourism, aquaculture, and technology.
read articleInterview
Mohammed Abdallah Al Kharusi, Group General Manager of Business Development , Mohsin Haider Darwish (MHD)
TBY talks to Mohammed Abdallah Al Kharusi, Group General Manager of Business Development at Mohsin Haider Darwish (MHD), on training the Omani workforce, developments in the industrial gas segment, and the group's many activities.
read articleB2B: Sohar Industrial Port Company
Find the Right Berth
TBY talks to André Toet, CEO of Sohar Industrial Port Company, and Jamal T. Aziz, CEO of Sohar Freezone & Deputy CEO of Sohar Industrial Port Company, on relations with between Rotterdam and Oman, freezones, and attracting investment.
read article