QCDC spearheads steps to Arabise career guidance resources
Qatar Foundation (QF) has launched a number of initiatives in recent years to address the challenges of modernising academic programmes and incentivising linguistic institutes to keep on top of technological advances in a bid to promote classical Arabic, which faces intense competition from colloquial dialects.
“Since its inception, Qatar Foundation has paid particular attention to preserving and promoting the Arabic language – the mother tongue of some 420mn people around the world, and the fifth most spoken language after Chinese, Spanish, English and Hindi,” QF said in a statement.
Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC), a QF member, is striving to support these efforts by addressing the gap in Arabic resources in the field of career guidance and professional development. Most recently, it supported the launch of the Arabisation of the Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) Glossary of Career Development Terms.
Abdulla al-Mansoori, director of QCDC, said: “Through this latest initiative, QCDC has made an important contribution to the promotion of the Arabic language, offering a resource to Arabic speakers and professionals around the world for creating impactful content and training programmes. The achievement will empower career development experts to better guide our youth – not only in Qatar but all across the Arab World – on their ambitious career journeys.”
US-based APCDA provides training for professionals engaged in facilitating career development in the Asia Pacific region and facilitates the exchange of expertise on professional projects. In 2014, an APCDA team from several Englishspeaking countries, including Australia, India, Singapore and the US, began compiling the glossary, aiming to offer versions in all languages spoken by its members to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise.
QCDC has traditionally participated in the annual APCDA conference – an international forum for sharing career development ideas and expertise in the Asia Pacific region. In the context of its ongoing collaboration with APCDA, QCDC has led the development of the Arabic edition of APCDA’s Glossary of Career Development Terms. The Arabic edition of the glossary will be dynamic and will change and grow as experts suggest improvements or additions.
Gulnur Ismayil-Isparova, executive director of APCDA, said: “There are more than 300 members from over 20 countries around the world under the APCDA umbrella. The association is a wide multicultural and multilingual platform. It is important for us to ensure the exchange of ideas and best practices is communicated smoothly. The glossary gives us chance to understand each other and effectively serve our clients in various corners of our regional coverage. We are thankful to Qatar Career Development Center for this valuable contribution and opening access to the APCDA glossary for Arabic speaking nationalities.”
As part of its efforts to promote resources in Arabic, QCDC also launched the online Career Advising System (CAS), the outcome of a strategic partnership with Kuder Inc, a US-based world leader in career planning services, and other government agencies, to integrate customised technology solutions into Qatar’s career guidance system.
The system’s components were tailored to fit Qatari sociocultural specificities, allowing users to undergo a complete psychometric analysis. Under a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, QCDC later rolled out the CAS across public secondary schools in Qatar to help students identify the most appropriate academic and career paths in line with the country’s future needs.
Additionally, QCDC was the first institution to offer the Career Adviser Training Course in both Arabic and English, exclusively in Qatar and the GCC region. The programme, powered by Kuder, aims to equip professionals with the basic skills and knowledge to offer career planning and counselling services, and the tools to help Qatari youth embark on ambitious career paths.
The training programme, which benefits academic advisers, human resources professionals, trainers, teachers and parents, has seen more than 150 participants graduate. QCDC’s English programme which began on November 22 concludes today, while the Arabic edition of the course will run from December 6 to 10.