Preparing youth in the UAE for the future of work

Initiative from the World Bank, AWS, and AGFE trains students on cloud technology and soft skills

The World Bank, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE), hosted the Skills for The Future Initiative (SFI) at Zayed University in Dubai on June 19th and 20th. The program introduced the next generation of technology leaders in the United Arab Emirates to the skills needed to prepare them for the jobs of the future. The two-day training bootcamp attracted students from 12 institutes who learned about the changing nature of work and received introductory training on cloud technology leveraging AWS Educate resources.

Cloud skills today are in high demand across all industries and have been identified by LinkedIn as the top skill that companies need most, for four years in a row. The students were introduced to the fundamentals of AWS technology with the AWS Technical Essentials Training course, which also covered key AWS services and how to navigate them. The course is part of AWS Educate, Amazon’s global initiative to provide students and educators with the resources needed to accelerate cloud-related learning, and was delivered by AWS Training and Certification experts.

A segment on soft skills training was delivered by Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE), which is based on the Al Ghurair Young Thinkers Program, an online digital platform that prepares Emirati and Arab youth with the skills and knowledge needed to make successful transitions from high school to university and university to the workplace. Launched in October 2018, over 10,000 Emirati youth have registered on the platform and are benefitting from more than 20 bespoke future skills online courses.

“Investments in education and learning are critical to ensuring that the youth of MENA are prepared to tackle and fully leverage the digital transformation of the workplace to their advantage,” said Andreas Blom, World Bank Education Manager for the Middle East and North Africa Region. “The UAE is among the early adopters of the World Bank Human Capital Project, and we are committed to helping harness the skills of the country’s youth to prepare them for future employment.”

Zubin Chagpar, Head of Middle East & Africa, Public Sector at AWS, said, “AWS is very excited to be providing young students in the UAE with cloud technology training through AWS Educate, to help prepare them for the jobs of the 21st century. Cloud computing and digital skills are growing in demand and are key to driving innovation and economic growth. AWS will continue to invest in workforce development in the UAE and the Middle East through education and training programs to further support the growth of the region’s cloud adoption.”

His Excellency Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, noted, “AGFE is proud to support Emirati and Arab youth through the Young Thinkers Program and welcomes the collaboration with the World Bank and Zayed University on the Skills for The Future Initiative. Collaboration between sectors is key to preparing young Emiratis for the skills demanded by the future world of work.”

Rutish Krishna, a student from JSS International School Dubai who attended the training, said he liked how AWS was able to explain how cloud computing technology actually works. He said, “It was great to see how both the leading companies of the world, and also smaller companies and startups use cloud technology to offer better services to their consumers. From a career perspective, I feel our future depends on this technology especially when it comes to securing jobs.”

Another student, Nida Sakhawat Ali, studying at the Canadian University Dubai, said, “Coming from an advertising background, I found the sessions very enlightening. Cloud technology might seem like a complex domain but the experts were very helpful in explaining these concepts and simplifying them for a wider audience. It’s clear that cloud technology is here to stay, and in today’s world, it is important to develop the skillsets to take advantage of the tools it has to offer.”