In Gulf News’ second education webinar on employability organised by GN Focus, experts from leading UAE universities discuss how they are equipping students with workplace competencies and soft skills.
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See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#Dubai #education #Webinar
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00:00Welcome to the second education webinar,
00:03Employability, Keeping Pace with Market Needs.
00:06Thank you for your time this evening.
00:08I'm your moderator, my name's Noni Edwards.
00:11I'm an Australian journalist and presenter.
00:13I've been with Gulf News for six years
00:15and been in the UAE for 12 years.
00:18Let me introduce our expert panellists
00:20who will share their achievements.
00:25We have Professor Hossam Handy,
00:28Chancellor of Gulf Medical University.
00:31Welcome, Professor.
00:35We have Ms. Kiri Chandler,
00:37Program Coordinator for the Undergraduate Business Program
00:40at Murdoch University.
00:42Hello.
00:45Dr. Michael Klop, the Senior Lecturer,
00:47Head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship
00:49and Business Excellence,
00:50Head of the Middlesex MBA
00:52and Head of the Careers and Employability Service
00:54at Middlesex University.
00:56Welcome, Dr. Michael.
00:58Thank you so much.
01:00Busy man.
01:02And Mr. Raj Kapoor, Director of Student Recruitment
01:05at American University in Dubai.
01:08Hello, thank you.
01:11Mr. Zawahir Siddique, Head of Blended Learning
01:14at Westford University College.
01:16Hello, everyone.
01:17Good morning.
01:20And Dr. Hussein El-Mahdi,
01:22Dean of Academic Support Services at University of Sharjah.
01:27Welcome to you all.
01:28I must say, from my end,
01:30I'm having a little difficulty hearing some of you.
01:33Oh, no.
01:34We will learn.
01:35We'll go as we can.
01:39So what we'll do, our topic today is the,
01:42and how to keep pace with market needs.
01:45We'll be trying to cover as many aspects as we can
01:48over the next 45 minutes.
01:50So let's look straight in
01:52and kick it off with a question for everybody to weigh in on.
01:56What are the workplace competencies
01:58that have traditionally been in high demand
02:00for the past few years,
02:02and how has it been developing them?
02:04Mr. Raj, please go ahead.
02:09First of all, Nellie, thank you so much for having us here.
02:11And before I start, I'd just like to say,
02:14I hope everyone is safe and well,
02:17and staying safe, I should say.
02:22Okay, so this is something that's really not new.
02:25Traditionally, yes, your hard skills
02:28are really important, Nellie,
02:30but employers are looking for more than those hard skills,
02:33more than that knowledge.
02:34They're looking for a lot of what we call soft skills,
02:36things like communication, being able to work in-
02:38I'm sorry, could I just,
02:40sorry, Raj, I'm so sorry.
02:42Can I ask our panelists to mute themselves
02:45so that we can give most of our attention to Raj here?
02:52Okay.
02:53Sorry, so yeah, just picking off again.
02:55So definitely the hard skills are important,
02:58your knowledge of the subject
03:00and whatever you're going into.
03:01So if it's engineering and it's software engineering,
03:03of course you need to know about software engineering.
03:06But for a long time now,
03:09employers are looking for more than that.
03:11When I say more than that,
03:12specifically your soft skills,
03:14which really, in many ways,
03:15they're a bit of a misnomer.
03:17There's nothing soft about these skills.
03:18These are power skills.
03:19These are hard-earned.
03:21This is your emotional intelligence.
03:22This is your ability to work in teams,
03:25your communication skills,
03:26your ability to empathize,
03:28your own self-awareness,
03:31collaboration and understanding
03:34of other people and cultures.
03:38So that, for sure.
03:40And there's a reason for that.
03:42You know, it wasn't,
03:43well, the business landscape today
03:46is very different to what it was 30, 40 years ago.
03:51Perhaps your competitor was down the street.
03:54Today, you could be in the UK
03:56and your competitor could be in Australia.
03:59You're sitting at a desk working with a team
04:02with seven different nationalities
04:05and different demographics.
04:07So unless you're able to get on with these people,
04:10you can have all the hard skills you want
04:12and all the knowledge you want,
04:13but unless you're able to be
04:15and collaborate with these people,
04:17employers generally don't want you.
04:21Fantastic.
04:22Great, great overview there.
04:23I'd like to throw this question around
04:25to everyone else as well.
04:26Perhaps we can focus on perhaps choosing one,
04:29you know, specific workplace competency
04:31that's been traditionally in high demand
04:33and how universities are good at developing them.
04:36Professor Hossam.
04:43I tend to agree and disagree with Dr. Raj.
04:48I definitely agree that, not disagreeing,
04:51but for many years, I have changed the names,
04:58what we call it hard skills or hard competence and soft.
05:03I think what we call it the soft or the hard,
05:06and he's correctly mentioned that,
05:09I like the powerful or power skills
05:14because they are essential,
05:18but we still, till now, we don't know how to teach it
05:22and how to assess it, for example,
05:25in an objective way, if you want.
05:29From my perspective as coming
05:32from the health profession education,
05:36I think a very essential soft or hard,
05:42whatever you want to call it, is communication skills
05:45because communication is, it cuts across everything.
05:52It is not the technology, but the human relation.
05:56The technology is a way, is a tool,
06:01but again, communication is very important.
06:05The worst thing about doctors like me
06:08is that when they have poor communication skills.
06:11So the human relation is very important
06:17and that's why we try to embed communication skills.
06:22It is not a course.
06:24I don't believe there is a course
06:25called 201 Communication Skills.
06:28It has to permeate in everything.
06:31It has to be an integral part
06:33of all our educational environment.
06:39Thank you very much, Professor Hossam.
06:41Dr. Michael, what is a specific workplace competency
06:46that has been traditionally in high demand
06:48and how are universities been delivering that?
06:51Yes, thank you also for having me, of course, today here.
06:55So basically, I think when you look at the last years,
06:58when you ask the past few years,
07:00we also look at the fourth industrial revolution, right?
07:04And basically, that's talking about changing
07:06the way we live and work.
07:08And when you look at that, it's quite interesting
07:12that you will see that this critical thinking,
07:14I think is an essential skill that also us as educator
07:19have the responsibility to really transform
07:22that into the students,
07:23that they really start this critical thinking process
07:26because that will change the world
07:28and that will drive innovation.
07:32Thank you so much.
07:34Kerry, workplace competencies,
07:37how has Murdoch been delivering them traditionally?
07:41Well, I echo everything that's already been said
07:44and totally agree that they have to be integrated
07:47throughout curriculum and communication
07:50is broadly speaking, I think,
07:53the foundational common denominator
07:55where we really need to instill in students,
08:00get them realising that communication
08:03and especially in their early career development
08:06is so important.
08:08And how we do this through the hard task
08:12of developing critical thinking
08:14because no one really understands critical thinking
08:17until you're in it.
08:19And it's very hard to teach
08:20even in an online environment, critical thinking.
08:24So how do we really access that through our platforms now?
08:30Because we're only gonna be dealing
08:32with this sort of environment,
08:34I would say more and more.
08:35And having that human aspect
08:37and those human skills developed
08:39is becoming more and more important,
08:42even through the advancement of technology
08:44and automation and robotics and so forth,
08:46artificial intelligence, communication
08:48and that personalised human aspect,
08:51I think the areas we still need to focus on in education,
08:55particularly in helping students become prepared
08:59for what new landscape is out there now
09:03in terms of our workforce environment.
09:07Thanks, Kerry.
09:08Dr. Hussain, what's your take on it?
09:10Workplace competencies.
09:11Traditionally, what have been the workplace competencies
09:14that universities have to help deliver?
09:17Okay, well, thank you very much for having me.
09:19It's really a good opportunity to exchange ideas here.
09:23And one of the competencies that have been
09:27in the rise in demand
09:30is what I call the multi-dimensional skills
09:35for the students.
09:36So engineering, for example, or science,
09:39or even in the health profession,
09:42now they are looking, employers are looking
09:46for a student or a graduate who can be multi-dimensional,
09:51especially in skills, computing skills, for example,
09:56information technology in different disciplines,
09:59you know, things that are, you know,
10:01basically the incorporation of technology
10:04into the different fields, for example.
10:07The other thing that has been,
10:09at least in our University of Sharjah,
10:13we've seen that is that employers now
10:15are even going into the curriculum
10:18and seeing what sort of skills the student has
10:21within the curriculum itself.
10:23And this goes along with the argument
10:25that was put forward by my colleagues here,
10:29it is really about integrating these skills
10:32into the curriculum, early into the curriculum.
10:35And now employers are looking for that.
10:37When they see the CV of the student,
10:39they actually look into how the program,
10:42let's say, for example, what Professor Hossam said
10:45is that it's really not a one-on-one
10:47where you teach communication in a course,
10:50but through the curriculum,
10:52where there are components in the curriculum
10:54where as an employer,
10:56you see that there are some skills
10:59the student gained during their education,
11:03and that will help them to be, you know,
11:05a multi-dimensional, you know, engineer,
11:08or, you know, a very, let's say,
11:12technically educated engineer
11:14to go with the trends,
11:15the current trends in the job market.
11:20Thank you, Dr. Hussein.
11:21And last but not least, Mr. Zawahir,
11:23can you explain for us at Westford,
11:25what are the traditional workplace competencies
11:28that you've seen at key to helping your students deliver?
11:32See, I would agree with all my fellow panelists
11:37on the skills that we discussed about.
11:40And some of the traditional skills have remained relevant,
11:44irrespective of how far we have changed by generations.
11:48But I think the gap lies,
11:50however hard we try to imbibe these skills,
11:53train and prepare our students for the future,
11:57there's always something extra
11:59that every organization expects
12:02of when we talk about employability skills.
12:04There is a gap,
12:05there is a lot of things they need to unlearn,
12:07relearn, and adapt to the new organization.
12:10I think one skill that I want to add on
12:14that we have been at Westford thriving on
12:16is the cultural competencies.
12:18You know, we have been talking about intelligence quotient,
12:20emotional quotient, cultural quotient,
12:23creativity quotient.
12:25It's very easy for us to understand
12:29why we live in UA with so much diversity
12:31and looking at how every young graduate
12:36aspires to look forward to be a global employee, right?
12:39They want to move around, they prefer mobility.
12:43So I think we need to focus a lot on
12:47preparing our students to deal with different cultures,
12:49to deal with the mobility,
12:52to prepare them to be a global employee.
12:55And thankfully for us at Westford,
12:58since we have students from over 113 different nationalities
13:02that helps us to learn from each other,
13:04to exchange cultural values.
13:07And I think that is where we put all the emphasis on
13:12to make sure they can deal with uncertainties,
13:15they can cope with different cultures
13:18and hopefully give them all the confidence
13:20to adapt and cope with any work environment
13:26anywhere around the world.
13:27And that is where our emphasis.
13:30So work under pressure, deal with uncertainty,
13:33be a global employee, cultural competence.
13:37I think the moment you mentioned cultural competence there,
13:41I just saw all the heads on my screen nod in unison.
13:44It was something that everyone could relate to there.
13:48Thank you very much for that first round, panelists.
13:50That was a lot of expertise
13:52that we had to wrap our minds around.
13:55I just wanted to stop for a short moment
13:57in the round of questions for a few housekeeping points.
14:00Just to let our spectators know, we have a poll running.
14:04If you would like to click on the polls tab
14:06at the bottom of your screen there,
14:07do universities make you career ready?
14:10Yes or no?
14:11We've already had 88 votes on that.
14:13So I think a lot of you have already seen that poll.
14:15We have 68% saying yes,
14:18universities do make you career ready.
14:21And now it's switched to, and 31% no,
14:24universities do not make you career ready.
14:27So a good two-thirds, more than two-thirds there
14:30believe that universities are helping us to be career ready.
14:34All right, so that's the polls feature.
14:36We also have a chat feature,
14:37which I see a lot of you have taken advantage of as well.
14:43If you have comments to make, please use the chat feature.
14:46And questions, all important questions for our panelists.
14:50If you have questions for them,
14:51please make sure they go into the questions tab.
14:53They won't see them, we won't see them,
14:55our moderators won't see them
14:56if they're in the chat feature.
14:58So if you'd like to ask questions at the end of the panel,
15:01please put them in the questions tab.
15:03All right, so let's get back to the questions now,
15:06all important expertise from our experts.
15:08Okay, Dr. Michael, I thought you were loosening your tie
15:12there, no, no, no, no tie there.
15:14Dr. Michael, let's look at what kinds of skills
15:17have become important to us through the pandemic.
15:21Okay, interesting question.
15:22So one thing what we already saw is that during the pandemic
15:26and of course the way we communicate changes totally, right?
15:30But also the way companies manage their employees
15:36totally changed.
15:36So just imagine you cannot be the boss anymore
15:39who stands behind the desk
15:40and then always make sure the person is working.
15:43And it's really giving it more flexibility
15:46when the people work and also, yeah,
15:48as long as they have certain deliverables.
15:51So it's different tract in regards
15:54how leadership is actually been seen at.
15:58So I think that is one important thing.
16:00And the other thing is, of course, all the soft skills
16:04that are very important, what already mentioned before,
16:07like, yeah, how we deal with each other,
16:09how to communicate and so on.
16:17Sorry, forgive me there.
16:18I forgot how to unmute myself.
16:20Thank you very much for that, Dr. Michael.
16:22Dr. Hussein, how can universities help develop those skills?
16:28Definitely through integrating these skills into programs.
16:35That's one thing, into the curriculum
16:37and preferably at early stages.
16:40However, especially, I mean,
16:42at least at the University of Charlotte
16:43and I'm very sure in other universities,
16:45we do have what's the special office
16:48called Career Advising Center.
16:52And this office is dedicated to teaching these students,
16:56especially in the latter years of their program of study,
17:00where they actually can learn some of these skills
17:03in addition to what they take in the classes.
17:07And this is something that we found to be very helpful.
17:10And especially if it is well-organized
17:12and also in collaboration with industry.
17:16If it is done this way in this model,
17:18then it will be very easy to assist students
17:22in gaining these soft skills.
17:24And I just wanted to comment one more point
17:27about what Mike said about the experience of COVID.
17:31The one very major experience we encountered,
17:35all of us, students or administration,
17:39is the fact that time does not have any essence anymore.
17:42We don't work from eight to four anymore.
17:44We extended the work hours beyond that.
17:47And this is something really,
17:48I mean, I like what my colleague said
17:51about the idea that you go with the task,
17:55approach, but really the time now is open
17:58and where you can actually reach out to your colleagues
18:02through these social media communication platforms,
18:06which is very effective.
18:11Great points there, Dr. Hussain.
18:13Thank you very much.
18:14Kiri, if I might ask you to follow up on that.
18:16Do you foresee changes in the way that businesses
18:19and universities collaborate
18:21on internships and work placements?
18:23I mean, obviously in this pandemic time,
18:27we've not had the face-to-face,
18:30the in-situ work placements.
18:34How's that going to carry forward?
18:37Yeah, good question also,
18:39because I'm a big promoter of industry
18:43and academia working closer together always,
18:47just to make sure that we are addressing
18:51what society needs as learning institutions.
18:55And the valuable, one of the most valuable things
18:58that we can help in the learning process
19:01is give students this sort of experiential type
19:04of opportunity where they can really connect the dots
19:08when they're in a working environment.
19:10So much of a curriculum sometimes for a student
19:14is just theory and concepts and frameworks.
19:18And even though we try and use application
19:23with these things, it's really not until
19:25they're in a work environment that they connect those dots.
19:28And so this is an area constantly we need to evaluate
19:31in terms of how we can work in partnership with industry
19:37and make sure that together, not just from our side,
19:41not just from industry side,
19:42that we are giving students the best preparedness
19:48for when they graduate.
19:50So I'm a big advocate of tighter communication
19:55and tighter working relationships between those two.
20:01Thank you for that.
20:02Professor Hossam, what kinds of career development services
20:06are most popular with students?
20:09Golf medical.
20:11Career development.
20:14Well, maybe answering this question
20:18and then as a follow-up of your previous question,
20:21because the COVID-19 as an event has led
20:27to a disruption of our norms,
20:31how we are doing things in our life,
20:34leading it to the evolvement and the new ways
20:38of doing things and innovation and so on.
20:41One of the, particularly in the health profession,
20:45education sector, a major disruption happened in that,
20:52in the university.
20:55I'm not going to talk about distance learning
20:58because everybody's doing that.
21:00But what's happened is that we have started
21:05and we have actually did it and we'll continue to do it,
21:09mobilizing all our students to the workplace.
21:14So we are reducing classroom learning or teaching
21:19or even labs to become more intensive
21:23and the intense workplace.
21:26And the COVID, something very interesting happened
21:29that the students from year one, medicine, dentistry,
21:34pharmacy, nurses, there was a severe shortage
21:39of health manpower in many hospitals.
21:42And you can't imagine, the students has,
21:44they have gone to the hospital,
21:47whether COVID or non-COVID hospitals,
21:50and they have contributed tremendously
21:54to the need of the society.
21:56So we are moving now,
21:59actually we started changing our curricula
22:02and moving them very early to be in the hospital
22:07at an early phase of their career.
22:11And this was a major disruption
22:13of what was happening before.
22:16And we'll see what's going to happen later on.
22:20But this is in the sector of the healthcare sector,
22:24because it's an area which there will be from,
22:30I would say there will never be unemployed in a way
22:34because there will be a continuous need
22:37for health workforce in this domain.
22:46Oh, Professor Hossam, that's such an interesting insight
22:49that you've been able to share with us there
22:51about how the pandemic has impacted on medical education.
22:54It's the healthcare sector in general.
22:58Mr. Zawahir, how has the admissions process
23:02been affected by COVID-19?
23:05Okay, with Westford,
23:09we have been blessed to launch a few courses during the,
23:14if you look at the last three months when,
23:17during the pandemic,
23:19we were able to back it up with a lot of new partnerships.
23:23We are launching five new undergrad courses in September.
23:28This year in sports business, in media,
23:32culture and communication, in fashion,
23:36in computer security, and so on.
23:40So, and of course there has been changes
23:44in the process we follow,
23:45but we have added a few,
23:47we have brought in a few value additions.
23:49For example, we believe one degree is good
23:53for our undergraduate program.
23:54I mean, they do a high national diploma
23:57and then do the top up with Liverpool John Morse University,
24:00which is ranked 49th by Guardian 2019,
24:03which is ranked higher than any of the,
24:07or most of the universities in UAE.
24:10So what we decided is let's scale up the qualifications
24:13the students get and make it useful as well.
24:15So they have a graduate,
24:18they will graduate with a BA honors in business,
24:22but apart from that,
24:23they also have a high national diploma,
24:25which comes from Pearson.
24:26But then we added on a professional diploma
24:30in career development and business etiquettes,
24:34as well as a certified team leader course.
24:39And one more thing we have added on
24:41is to tap the talent of young aspiring graduates,
24:47which we are launching for the first time,
24:49which will be just to start in the following week
24:52after five days.
24:54And we call it the youth business leadership program.
24:56That is for the 16 to 19 year olds before they turn 20,
24:59before they make up their mind for choosing
25:02a graduate program.
25:03It doesn't have to be with Westwood.
25:04It can be,
25:05it doesn't have to be with any of the universities in Dubai.
25:10It can be anywhere,
25:10but then we want to prepare them,
25:12make sure that they go through an entire journey.
25:15They start with the youth business leadership program,
25:18then enroll for a graduate program with us
25:21or with anyone else.
25:22And then they go to go through a two months
25:25professional diploma course,
25:27which is entirely focusing on.
25:31Thank you very much for that.
25:33Normal journey with a graduate program.
25:35And then eventually they also have a program.
25:38Yeah.
25:39Thank you, Mr. Zahir.
25:40Thank you so much.
25:42Okay.
25:43I have one more question to get to Raj.
25:45I haven't forgotten about you,
25:46but I'm just going to throw open to our new poll here.
25:49Are you satisfied with the career development services
25:52of universities?
25:53Yes or no?
25:55We have 54 votes in and we have just over half saying yes
25:59and just under half saying no.
26:02Well, the final question I have for the single questions
26:06here for Raj is what's your advice for students looking
26:10for tertiary courses?
26:11And let me clarify.
26:14I'm sure it's one that is a very basic question,
26:17but it's one that's essential for people
26:19who might be coming up to the end of their schooling
26:21and have no idea.
26:23They might have very different subjects
26:27that they're interested in.
26:28They might not be able to choose.
26:30What are some easy, key, basic points that they can consider?
26:34Great.
26:35Thanks, Noni.
26:36Just before I answer that question,
26:38if I can just go back to one or two points earlier
26:41that you mentioned about what the pandemic has shown us
26:43and taught us and what's our advice
26:46in terms of soft skills for today.
26:51I'm gonna say something a little bit controversial.
26:53I think Dr. Mike summed it up beautifully.
26:56Certainly everything he mentioned,
26:58you've obviously got things like adaptability
27:00and flexibility and tech savviness has come in as well.
27:04But I'm gonna say something a little bit controversial here.
27:06You know, yes, it wasn't COVID-19 four or five years ago,
27:11but this shouldn't be really a surprise for people, really.
27:15If you look at some of the reports
27:16that came out five, six years ago,
27:19McKinsey in 2015, 16 said that the workplace
27:23as we know it today is gonna be redundant.
27:27You know, 15, 16, 17% of the jobs that exist
27:32as the way they do and the skills that are required
27:35for those jobs are gonna be obsolete.
27:39So the message was there.
27:40You know, the message was already there that people,
27:42you know, you need to unlearn, relearn
27:45and so on.
27:46Whatever you're learning today, retrain, reskill, upskill.
27:51You know, and again, you know, I don't wanna preach,
27:54but you know, the writing was on the wall.
27:57It wasn't through COVID-19, but you know,
27:59and there were some forward looking companies
28:01that took heed of that.
28:02And it's well documented that some companies are coping
28:05with this latest, you know, catastrophe that's hit us
28:09better than others.
28:10You know, these companies knew that it wasn't a nine to five
28:13Monday to Friday week, as Mr. Zawahir just mentioned earlier
28:16your customers don't come to you between nine and five
28:18on Monday to Friday.
28:20You could get a call from anywhere at your time,
28:23two o'clock in the morning on a Sunday
28:25and they expected an answer.
28:26And you coming in on Monday, the next day at nine o'clock
28:28to answer that question wasn't good enough.
28:31And so there was a lot of companies that learned from this
28:33and adapted.
28:35You know, the forward looking companies realized before
28:38that, you know, we wanna balance between the nine to five
28:41and forcing people to come into work
28:43and being given the ability to telecommute.
28:46You know, how many ladies were we losing
28:48just straight after maternity leave?
28:50Because, oh, look at that skillset.
28:52You spent all that time training these people
28:54and then they wanted to be with their babies
28:55when they were, you know, when the baby was growing up
28:58and we said, you know, choose.
29:00And, you know, telecommuting wasn't available.
29:03You had to be in your office.
29:04You could only do the X days maternity leave and so on.
29:07And look at the talent you lost.
29:08Now those companies realized, you know what?
29:10If we set this up where I'm not picking,
29:13I'm not being, you know, sexist or anything.
29:15I'm just using this example.
29:16But if we set this up where a mother
29:21that's just had a child can work from home telecommuting,
29:24we retain that skillset, best of both worlds.
29:27They can look after their baby.
29:29They can also multitask and we're getting that talent
29:32staying on board with us.
29:33So these people were already doing telecommuting.
29:37These companies were already doing a lot of things.
29:39And you know what?
29:40This was not so much of a shift for them in many ways,
29:43you know, and they were ready.
29:47So your advice to students would be to choose wisely.
29:52And there are companies that were ahead of us.
29:54And, you know, there are some that just woke up
29:56and realized that, you know what?
29:57Maybe we shouldn't have been asking our staff
29:58to come in nine to five.
29:59You know, I just mentioned the example of your customers,
30:02but it's the whole ecosystem.
30:04You know, it's the whole ecosystem.
30:05Your best ideas don't come from nine to five
30:08on a Sunday to Thursday.
30:10You might get a brilliant idea on a Friday afternoon.
30:12And what we're saying, we're saying to people,
30:13you come in at nine to five?
30:15I mean, that mentality is long gone, you know?
30:18So just expect from that.
30:22What I might do now, what I might do before you head to-
30:25I'm getting questions.
30:26Before you head to that one,
30:27because we had plenty that you could share with us there.
30:32I might head to our final round robin question
30:35before I get to our spectator questions.
30:37And they're really important to answer the ones
30:38that our audience out there have been asking.
30:41But I know that they're going to be interested.
30:43I want each of you, if you can give me a succinct answer
30:47on the same question.
30:49What are the most employable degrees?
30:51Where are they now at this point in 2020?
30:54What are the best paying jobs?
30:55What are the jobs that,
30:57what are the degrees that will lead to those?
31:00Professor Hossam, what is the most employable degree
31:04that you have out there?
31:06Nurses.
31:07As I mentioned, maybe I'm biased,
31:12but actually there is a definitely there is shortage,
31:17not only in UAE, but all over the world in some jobs.
31:24As it is my area and my domain,
31:28definitely it has been obvious that there has to be
31:33it has been obvious that the health sector,
31:36the health industry is an area which will be always needed
31:41and maybe more what's happening now.
31:45Apart from the traditional and well-known health professions
31:50like physicians, nurses, clinical pharmacists,
31:55dentists, and so on,
31:56there is a category which is very important,
32:00which we are addressing it at Gulf Medical University,
32:03which is the healthcare management and health economics.
32:07Because as an industry, still we don't have,
32:11it's a waste of time, for example,
32:13to bring a doctor and tell him he's a director
32:16of a hospital or he's a manager.
32:19Of course, he has to understand
32:21and he must know about this,
32:23but it's becoming very important to have people
32:27who are specialized in this type of industry,
32:30which they can manage the finance, the economics,
32:34the management, and the whole system.
32:37So this is another area which I think it would be attractive
32:42as a new, not a new, but as jobs and the career
32:48which will take place.
32:49So we have-
32:50Thank you, Professor Hossam.
32:53Okay, let's go to Mr. Zawahir.
32:56What are the most employable degrees in your mind?
33:00I think the most popular or based on demand,
33:05I would say in supply chain management,
33:07logistics and supply chain management,
33:09healthcare management.
33:10Sports is something that's been relatively unattended
33:15in this part of the world,
33:16but I think there are a lot of opportunities
33:18around the world.
33:20Traditionally, they were hiring business graduates
33:24or students from MBA and so on,
33:27but I think a specialist qualification in sports
33:30is something that is a lot of youngsters
33:32will look forward to take as a career,
33:35like as stadium managers, as event managers,
33:38or managing sporting events around the world.
33:41That's a huge opportunity coming up.
33:45And one more area that we have also focused on
33:49is business analytics.
33:50I think big data is the big thing which we can't ignore,
33:56irrespective of whether it's artificial intelligence
33:59or big data that's playing a big role in the business today.
34:02That is going to be a hot topic
34:05that everybody's going to look forward to.
34:07Business analytics.
34:08Yeah.
34:10Thank you so much.
34:12Dr. Michael, the most employable degrees out there.
34:15Okay.
34:16Just before I start, we said one quick thing,
34:19because we talked about it earlier,
34:21that what disciplines, and when we talked about it,
34:25I just wanted to highlight it again,
34:26that we've talked about work-life balance before,
34:29and all the lectures of us who taught leadership knew that,
34:33but now it's more about life, work-life integration, right?
34:36And that means that we have to also teach our students
34:39to have a lot more self-disciplines,
34:41and also that life goes a lot faster.
34:45So when you ask me what are now the most paying jobs
34:48in URE or everywhere in the world,
34:50I would almost say that's the wrong question,
34:53because I think you should find passion for your job,
34:57and then when you become very good at your job,
34:59money will follow you, right?
35:01And it's like, when I talk to my wife-
35:03I love this answer.
35:04Yeah, thank you.
35:05And you know, it's like when you talk to somebody
35:08and say, how is your job?
35:10Well, it's okay, you know, I like it.
35:13But it's not about that.
35:14It's about, you know, when I talk to my wife,
35:17when somebody asks me, how do I like my wife?
35:19And you say, well, I like her, she's okay.
35:22I think then that's wrong, right?
35:24So you say, I love it.
35:25And the same thing, I love my job.
35:27And that means you should create a passion for it,
35:30and then you're willing to go the extra mile,
35:32and then money will come.
35:34Thank you for that perspective.
35:36Dr. Hussein, what are the most employable degrees?
35:39Or is it all passion-led?
35:44Great, I was on mute, sorry about that.
35:47I definitely agree with Mike.
35:48This is absolutely spot on.
35:51Passion is the name of the game.
35:53However, you know, the real life is there.
35:56So you have to, you know, basically find a job.
36:01In this aspect, I would like to refer
36:03to what's so-called unique jobs.
36:06Unique, new, developing jobs.
36:08I mean, for example, I'm not gonna repeat
36:10what my colleague said, because that's obviously very true.
36:13But there are jobs out there now,
36:16especially in the UAE, for example, space.
36:18Space, there is a lot of space,
36:22especially with the different centers,
36:23space centers that are out there.
36:25There is a good opportunity,
36:26and it's a very challenging, Mike,
36:28and interesting job.
36:29Students love it.
36:31And in the University of Charlottes,
36:33one of the biggest attraction is in space.
36:37Also, cybersecurity.
36:39Now, with all these advances,
36:42all these, you know, distant learning,
36:45networking, and all of this,
36:47it comes with its cybersecurity.
36:49And there are now, as you know,
36:50it's a parallel line, where, you know,
36:53this is advanced, and this is advanced.
36:55So there is a big need in the market
36:59for cybersecurity engineers.
37:02So that's, again, that's something that,
37:03what I call, you know, it's a bit traditional,
37:06but now it's in high demand.
37:08And also, students love it.
37:09There's a lot of challenge in it.
37:10And I wanted to emphasize again what Mike said,
37:13but also the challenge in the job.
37:15So you find it challenging.
37:16Challenge is interesting.
37:18So that's very important.
37:20And there are other jobs, you know,
37:23here and there, you know,
37:24especially in, which are traditional,
37:26but still there,
37:27especially in renewable energy environment,
37:30and these jobs, they're still there.
37:32There's still good jobs,
37:33and there's still good opportunities
37:35in these fields as well.
37:38That was a great, great range there.
37:41Keri, employable degrees at Murdoch.
37:46Yeah, all my good answers have been stolen.
37:48So all I'll have to add from my crystal ball is,
37:53look, I can see most of our audience here are students,
37:56and they want to know what they should do.
37:59And so I would say my best advice for you
38:01is not only try and align yourself
38:04with something that you find some interest in,
38:08but give yourself the scope.
38:10So give yourself the opportunity
38:12to cross-pollinate different degrees.
38:16And that's where we offer students
38:18this opportunity of double majors,
38:21so they don't have to hand themselves in.
38:23And also, it gives them lots of more employability
38:26at the end.
38:28But also important for students to realize
38:30is that you will very, very likely change your career
38:34four or five times throughout your entire life.
38:37And so this is just the beginning of lifelong learning.
38:41So although you think that this is it
38:44and this is really important, don't worry.
38:48This will all be valuable despite what you do,
38:52even five, 10, 15 years from now and beyond,
38:55because this is what we've had to do.
38:57We've had to upskill, reskill,
39:00and all this new career development.
39:03But find something that you are interested in
39:06so that it drives your motivation at this stage
39:08and give yourself open scope
39:11and perhaps entertain the double major opportunity
39:15that gives you that cross-disciplinary
39:18knowledge and experience.
39:20Raj, thank you very much, Kiri.
39:22Raj, I'm going to do it to you again.
39:24I'm going to cut away just to our latest poll.
39:27Would you like to see more collaboration
39:29between universities and businesses on job placements?
39:33A resounding 100% of 89 votes, 90 votes,
39:38100% say yes, more collaboration
39:41between universities and businesses on job placements.
39:44That will be very interesting
39:45in these socially distancing times.
39:48Raj, the most employable degrees.
39:51So just to pick up on that question again,
39:54so this is something that's really popular at AUD,
39:56School of Business, we collaborate with industry.
39:59And in fact, a lot of our courses
40:02are joint industry slash school of business run.
40:05But I can't say anything else
40:06because we've had some brilliant answers.
40:09But yeah, to summarize, follow your passion.
40:12The other thing I think that maybe wasn't said,
40:15the government gives you a big clue.
40:17If you're looking for the degrees
40:18and the sector to go into,
40:20look at what the government's doing.
40:21Okay, so we're in education, we're in health,
40:25we're in tourism, space, et cetera.
40:27You can't go wrong when you look at
40:29what the government's doing.
40:31But whatever degree you choose,
40:33as Kiri already said,
40:34make sure they teach you about lifelong learning.
40:36Make sure it's one about where there's critical thinking.
40:39Make sure it's one where you can collaborate
40:41and they teach you that, the experiential side of it.
40:44Make sure the faculty are qualified to teach the courses
40:46that the degree you're doing.
40:50And yeah, so I'd love to just tell you here as well,
40:52not only that, AUD's employability rate last survey
40:56was 96.15%, so yeah, really proud of that.
41:01Thank you, thank you for that, Raj.
41:02It's time now to go to our spectator questions.
41:05And I really would like to get through as many as we can.
41:08We're running quite close to time.
41:10We'll run a little bit over, if you don't mind,
41:12so we can get to some of these questions.
41:14But if we can try and answer these questions in a nutshell
41:18so that we can bounce around to as many as possible,
41:21that would be really great.
41:22I'll start off with David's question.
41:25What is the enrollment rate for degrees
41:27in arts and humanities over the years?
41:29What are the job opportunities
41:31for arts and humanities graduates?
41:32Dr. Hussain, I'm going to ask you this one.
41:35Has it improved over the years
41:37for arts and humanities graduates?
41:39What's the enrollment rate like there?
41:41Sorry about that, sorry, and thanks for the reminder.
41:52At the University of Sharjah,
41:53we have a very good intake in these disciplines.
41:58And even though we have six departments
42:02in arts and humanities,
42:04but there are very good enrollment
42:06in all of these departments.
42:09International relations seem to be the theme nowadays.
42:13There is a lot of students
42:14that go into international relations,
42:16and there is a good employability opportunity
42:20for these students.
42:22Social sciences, also, there is a big demand on that,
42:27and there is also a good, especially in the UAE,
42:31now with the social services and whatnot,
42:35there is a lot of good opportunities,
42:38job opportunities there.
42:40And of course, the traditional,
42:41you have the Arabic department,
42:43and also, we have now the languages,
42:48Department of Languages, where English, French,
42:51now we have also French.
42:53And again, we have good enrollment in this department.
42:57And also, there is a good demand,
42:59especially on translators,
43:02just writers and what have you,
43:05and there is a good, good opportunity there.
43:08Now, we added the education department.
43:10So, the education department is now
43:12with the arts and humanities.
43:13And believe it or not,
43:15there is a high demand on teachers.
43:16It's still in the UAE,
43:18especially with the new minister of education.
43:23They're asking now for certification.
43:25And with this, there is a high demand on that.
43:27So, there is an arts and humanities,
43:29even though some students, they don't think of it,
43:33the enrollment is good,
43:34and also, the employability is good.
43:37So, this is something that is at least
43:38the experience of the University of Sharjah.
43:40It's really good, and that's very pleasing to us.
43:44Thank you so much, Dr. Hussein.
43:46Dr. Michael, this might be a good one for you.
43:48How do you prepare at Middlesex?
43:50How do you prepare students for EU, USA,
43:52and the Gulf and other markets
43:54based on competencies and lifelong learning competencies?
43:58Thank you so much for the question.
44:00A very good question, by the way.
44:02So, at Middlesex, we have over 100 different nationalities.
44:06So, I think probably we have
44:08the biggest international day as such,
44:12but at least the loudest one, I promise you that,
44:14because my office is directly next to the big event.
44:17And so, when you just go there,
44:19and I always go there during my lunch break
44:22and try to eat from some of the different booths.
44:25We have 70 different dishes there, right?
44:28And those students, they also work in group works together,
44:32in other activities,
44:33and they become friends for life, right?
44:37I even saw a couple married one day
44:39from two different countries.
44:40So, what I wanna say is,
44:42I think it's about life, education,
44:45and integrating that as the world becomes more global.
44:50Thank you very much for that lovely picture
44:53you painted for us.
44:54Kiri, Muhammad Yunus has written in,
44:58flexible work and work from home
45:00requires a great deal of self-discipline.
45:02How does the academic life foster these skills?
45:06I can imagine it must be really tough.
45:09Wow, it's a very big question,
45:13and one that I can profess that I am not an expert at.
45:18I think that our role as educators and facilitators
45:21has broadened, particularly in this last few months,
45:27as we try and reach through our monitors
45:31to connect with students the same way
45:33that we did in a face-to-face situation.
45:37And so, fostering good mental health,
45:43I think, is important for us as educators to role model.
45:48And through that role modeling,
45:50then hopefully that also transpires to students,
45:55sort of leveraging a little bit to what Raj has said
45:57in terms of this new workforce environment we're in,
46:04which we have accelerated to,
46:07that we don't have this nine-to-five timeframe anymore,
46:10but as teachers and educators, we never had that anyway.
46:15But it's really learning how to be healthy mentally,
46:20and also instilling that in our students,
46:22because as we all know,
46:25mental health is as vital as physical health,
46:29and particularly when you're learning
46:32in an online environment,
46:34it becomes more apparent motivation,
46:39your surroundings of learning,
46:41and how you drive yourself to be mentally healthy
46:45all the time is really important.
46:47So, we as educators have to role model that,
46:50and I think it's a learning process for us also.
46:57Thank you so much for that, my goodness.
47:00Let's see if we can get to another question here, okay.
47:04We have, ooh, Sahil, in this digitally evolving era,
47:10which are the core industries to boom
47:12and are getting in demand?
47:13Zahra here, can you give us some insight on this?
47:16In this digitally evolving era,
47:17which are the core industries to boom
47:19and are getting in demand?
47:23I think looking forward to, like I said before,
47:27business analytics or big data and artificial intelligence.
47:32I would say almost every industry,
47:34like if you look at banking, for example,
47:36we're talking about Emirates MBD in Dubai,
47:40looking forward to launch their first manless,
47:44completely digitalized AI-driven services.
47:49So, I don't think we can single out any industry,
47:53like, or any industry.
47:54For example, last year in Brussels,
47:57they ran a motor exhibition,
48:01and Volvo came up with a AI-enabled recruitment car.
48:08And that actually, that was extremely disruptive,
48:12because that exhibition was supposed to be
48:16one to exhibit their new cars,
48:18and then Volvo from no way came up
48:20with a recruiting car enabled by AI,
48:24and that became the talk.
48:26So, a car talking about HR in a conference
48:29that was supposed to promote their cars.
48:31So, I think automobile, banking, we talk about,
48:35it is not the conventional, the so-called organizations
48:40like Microsoft or Google or Amazon,
48:43which are digitally-driven organizations,
48:46but almost every organization is going to be AI-enabled
48:50or big data enabled,
48:51and we have to prepare our students
48:53to look into that future
48:55and fit themselves into that future, yeah.
48:57Thanks so much.
48:59Professor Hossam, I have a question here.
49:01Is it too late to start thinking about admissions
49:04for tertiary courses?
49:05What is the ideal time to start planning
49:08for university admissions?
49:11Tertiary courses, you said?
49:13Sorry, I didn't get the answer.
49:14Yes, is it too late to start thinking
49:17about admissions for tertiary courses?
49:19I'm not quite sure where they are in their education,
49:24but is it too late now?
49:25What is the ideal time to start planning
49:27for university admissions?
49:30Well, I don't think there is a time limit.
49:33Any time they can start, even when they are in school,
49:38they can think of what they're going to do later on.
49:42Actually, we have started a program here,
49:45which we call it the Future Scientists of UAE,
49:50where we take students from grade 10, 11,
49:55and we embed them in a research environment.
50:00So with our research
50:03and our precision medicine research institutes,
50:06and they come every Saturday.
50:10Their parents, they bring them here,
50:12and they spend a full year with us
50:17to be embedded in this, how researchers think.
50:21And this is a sort of introducing them
50:26to the future of what they can do,
50:30or to see what is going to be the future.
50:33So preparation and bringing the students
50:37from the school to the secondary education,
50:40and even to see the workplace of the future very early,
50:44it can start very early.
50:46And I don't know if I have answered
50:48to some extent the question.
50:55Thank you so much, Professor Hossam.
50:57Kerry, in the current scenario,
50:58would it be difficult for students
51:00to get admitted to their favorite course?
51:02What is your advice?
51:05Hmm.
51:06Well, I guess it depends on the new parameters
51:10of which we're going to operate, largely.
51:13And then we will accordingly adapt
51:16maybe into a hybrid model
51:18based on the need to social distance,
51:21based on physical requirements of our facilities.
51:26But this is where I think education,
51:28higher education has a great opportunity now
51:31to really, really evolve and develop our infrastructure
51:37so that we are more accessible,
51:39so that we have the opportunity to utilize technology
51:43in the best way possible.
51:46And so I wouldn't anticipate there being restrictions
51:50in terms of admissions and entries.
51:55All those entry requirements that are required previously,
51:59for certainly Murdoch, are the same.
52:01It's just under which environment
52:04we are now going to facilitate learning.
52:07And I see it being more and more integrated
52:09with online learning, blended learning.
52:15Our environment will no doubt, absolutely, 100% change.
52:19It will not go back to what we had before
52:22in any way, shape, or form,
52:24purely just because of the logistics
52:27of operating with distance, with masks,
52:30with sanitization requirements, all of this.
52:34This will change our entire way that we teach.
52:39Thank you so much.
52:40I have to say, unfortunately, that's all we have time for.
52:43So we're going to call this one an evening.
52:47Let me remind you that the information that you need
52:49for our speakers and their universities
52:51can be found at the top of the screen.
52:53There are two headings up there
52:54saying speakers and booths.
52:56And if you'd like more information on our experts
52:59and where they're from, you can look for them there.
53:02Speakers and booths for the institutions
53:04that they represent and for them themselves.
53:07So do we have time to go back and check the polls there?
53:11We have, would you like to see more collaboration
53:14between universities and businesses on job placements?
53:17Yes, 99%.
53:20I think there's been one vote cast for no more collaboration.
53:24Are you satisfied with the career development services
53:27of universities?
53:2850-50.
53:31How about that?
53:3250% of the respondents are satisfied
53:34with career development.
53:36Do universities make you career ready?
53:3964%, yes.
53:41There we go.
53:42So if you'd like to read more about this topic,
53:46we'll have a follow-up article and a video summary
53:50of the webinar today.
53:51So you can see that on gulfnews.com
53:54or if you want to buy the newspaper in your local store.
53:57I'd like to thank our speakers for their time
54:00and their expertise today.
54:01Wow, we covered so many topics.
54:03I mean, we really could have drilled down much further
54:05into all of them.
54:07So thank you and thank you for helping us get through
54:10as much content as we could do.
54:12Ms. Kiri Chandler, Program Coordinator
54:14and Faculty Undergraduate Business at Murdoch University.
54:17Mr. Raj Kapoor, Director of Student Recruitment
54:20at American University in Dubai.
54:23Dr. Hussain Elmedi, Dean of Academic Support Services
54:26at University of Sharjah.
54:29Professor Hossam Hamdi,
54:30Chancellor of Gulf Medical University.
54:34Mr. Zawahir Siddique, Head of Blended Learning
54:38at Westwood University College.
54:42And Dr. Michael Klopp, Senior Lecturer,
54:44Head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship
54:46and Business Excellence, Head of the Middlesex MBA
54:49and Head of the Careers and Employability Service
54:51at Middlesex University.
54:53Thank you all.
54:54It's been a fascinating conversation today.
54:57I'm Noni Edwards for Gulf News
54:59and I will see you again next time.
55:00Have a good evening.
55:03Goodbye, stay safe.
55:04All the best.
55:05Bye-bye.
55:06And you all, thank you so much.
55:08Bye-bye.