Integrated efforts required for building national talent
 

Oman Forum – Building National Talent witnessed two heated and thought-provoking panel discussions on education and training; youth employment policies and initiatives; identification of talent gaps and challenges; and creation of guidelines to set up the roadmap for future


HE Mohsin Al Balushi, Advisor to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Chairman of The Public Authority for Manpower Registration stated that the government considers human resources development as a crucial investment for nation building.

Speaking at the Oman Forum – Building National Talent, organised recently at Al Bustan Palace Ritz-Carlton, he said renaissance has opened up new vistas of scientific progress and educational development. “The Research Council continues to take various innovative steps to improve the quality of scientific and technical education in the country. The Public Authority for Manpower Registration seeks to strengthen the coordination between various institutions in the country. It will help private sector companies to find out the capable hands and the job seekers to get updated about the right opportunities. The authority has taken various initiatives and signed several agreements to strengthen the agreement between both private and public sectors,” he stated.

The event was organised by Alam al-Iktisaad Wal A’mal (AIWA), Oman’s premier business magazine published by United Press & Publishing (part of UMS Group). The half day-long event comprised two panel discussions on the state of education and training, youth employment policies and initiatives, identification of talent gaps and challenges and creation of the guidelines to set up the road map for future. The relevant stakeholders from all walks of the society including the government, Majlis Al Shura, private sector, HR experts and civil society deliberated on the various dimensions of building national talent.

Talking at the event, HE Dr Abdullah
Bin Mohammed Al Sarmi, undersecretary, Ministry of Higher Education said, “It is high time we shifted from consuming knowledge to producing knowledge, by emerging as knowledge based economy. The task of building national talent and equipping youngsters and enabling them to contribute to the nation building is a collective responsibility to be shouldered both by the private and public sectors. The ministry of higher education sends students to over 40 countries for higher studies. English is the main language and the medium of study in all these countries. They come back well trained and equipped to take up the challenging tasks awaiting them in the local industry.

But we don’t send them to Latin American countries because of the concerns about the security and education environment in those countries. Although we have sent some students to Japan recently, we had to shift them to other countries because of the language problems.”

Among the other panelists, Mundhir Al Barwani, HR director, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) said, “Private sector companies ought to play a big role in building national talent. PDO accords great importance to train its employees and make them capable of handling new challenges. We send out diploma holders every year abroad to complete their studies. In addition, we give in-house training in all areas for our employees.”

Hussain Bin Salman Al-Lawati, vice chairman and MD, Oman Cables Industry said, “There is no denying the fact that the foundation of our education system is strong and our labour law is strong enough to create relevant job opportunities for Omanis. But now, we have to build on this good foundation in secondary education to develop a high-quality and professionally sound higher education system to meet the new requirements of various industries in our fast developing country. We need to concentrate more on developing the skillsets and capabilities required by the job market in the country.”

Oman Forum – Building National Talent was organised in association with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Civil Services, Sultan Qaboos University, The Research Council (TRC) and Oman Society of Contractors. AhliBank, Voltamp, Galfar and Omran were the strategic partners whereas Omantel, Oman Cables Industry and Vale were the associate partners for the prestigious forum. The event was webcasted live on www.sowlef.com/live. 

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