Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC), a member of Qatar Foundation, will implement several new programmes this year with an aim to empower youth better plan their career paths in line with their capabilities and the future needs of Qatar’s market.
The new programmes will be built upon the success of last year in creating awareness about career development among the youth. It will include a programme for students with special skills, said Abdulla Al Mansoori, Director, QCDC.
“2018 was a very progressive year for QCDC. This year we are planning to have several new programmes and services that will further enhance our youth to be able to find the best potential career path,” he told The Peninsula.
QCDC aims to be country’s beacon for career guidance, preparing the nation’s young human capital to respond to the requirements of the QNV 2030, by instilling career guidance within Qatar’s socio-economic culture.
“Employment readiness programme for students with special skills was run as a pilot project last year. This year we will implement it. We have opened several centres within the QF. Shafallah and at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to help and guide students with special skills,” said Al Mansoori.
“We are planning to launch Qatar Career Practitioners’ Association, which will be like an umbrella organisation for career counselors. A family career advising programme for parents will be introduced to help them find suitable career path for children,” he added.
In 2018, QCDC was able to attract more participants at its activities held to create awareness about career development. It has also built strong relations with stakeholders such as the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Unesco and several others.
About 90 percent of the participants in QCDC’s initiatives have expressed their satisfaction with the programmes which have engaged more than 12,000 persons in 2018. QCDC has organised more than 30 programmes and participated in three international events.
It has graduated 86 career advisors from the Career Advisor Training Course and graduated more than 70 counsellors from public, private schools in Qatar as part of the Career Counselors Training Program.
A new ‘Career Advising System’ (CAS) was implemented across public secondary schools in the country to guide students for planning their academic and career paths. It was mandatory for all grade ten students in public schools and some private schools has also benefitted from the system.
It has trained more than 90 academic counsellors and career practitioners and benefit 11,000 students.
QCDC also released a research paper on ‘Careering towards a Sustainable Qatari Economy.’
The edutainment Career Awareness Center for children was opened in at KidzMondo in 2018. It is a first of its kind centre in the world. QCDC held a ‘Thank You’ ceremony yesterday at the Qatar National Library to formally appreciate those who have extended their support and contributed to the accomplishment of its programmes and initiatives.
