QATAR CAREER FAIR HOSTS INAUGURAL CAREER COUNSELLORS FOLLOW-UP MEETING
Academic Counsellors Explore Ways to Enhance Development of Qatari Youth
Qatar Career Fair (QCF) recently held its first ‘Career Counsellors Follow-up Meeting’ at the Education City Clubhouse (ECCH). The meeting, on 25th September, is part of a newly launched initiative by QCF that includes a series of Career Guidance Stakeholders Engagement and Professional Development events.
The meeting was attended by 30 academic counsellors and career guidance practitioners in Qatar, who were divided into two groups to discuss new career guidance development initiatives to better serve Qatari youth.
QCF Director, Abdulla Al-Mansoori, said: “Career guidance is an organised educational process that assists students to explore their career path based on their capabilities and skills. At QCF, we are committed to developing all aspects of career guidance to enable Qatari youth to realise their full potential and help drive Qatar’s transformation to a sustainable and diverse knowledge-based economy.”
Commenting on his participation, Salah-El-Din El-Hawary, academic counsellor at Omar Bin Abdulaziz Independent Secondary School for Boys, said: “In my focus group, we explored topics such as the challenges facing academic counsellors in schools and the different ways in which the Ministry of Education and Higher Education can help us enhance our role. The introduction of Academic Counselling to the school curriculum, which is initiated by the Ministry of Education and planned to be piloted during this academic year in 10 schools, was also discussed.”
Highlighting the efforts of QCF, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), in advancing the role of academic counsellors, El-Hawary, said: “QCF provides academic counsellors with a discussion platform and is uniting our work, through proposing the launch of a specific club where counsellors from independent and international schools in Qatar can meet to exchange knowledge and experiences.”
Group one explored the outcomes from the ‘Professionalisation of Career Guidance Practices’ focus group discussion that was held during the Career Guidance Stakeholders Platform in May 2016. They also charted ways forward to help pave the way for the 2017 event.
Group two was responsible for assessing the experience of the Career Advisor Training Course (CATC) participants with the QCF Career Advising System and were tasked with suggesting ways to enhance the programme within a clear timeframe and strategy.
At the end of the meeting, the last batch of participants of the CATC received their certificates of completion from the President of Kuder Inc., a world leader in career planning services and one of QCF’s strategic partners. A Kuder delegation attended the meeting as part of their visit to QCF last week to discuss the on-going projects and the possible future collaboration opportunities in the field of career guidance in Qatar.
Phil Harrington, President and CEO of Kuder Inc., said: “Attending the meeting has highlighted how passionate the academic counsellors and the career guidance practitioners are about serving youth in Qatar. “
“We are honoured to partner with QCF, an organisation that has a clear vision on how to meet the needs of career counsellors, students, parents, and the business community within the State of Qatar, as it continues to develop,” Harrington added.
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