14 April 2013
Muscat: The scope of the Ernst & Young Student Excellence Awards to honour outstanding Omani university and college students, which was launched last year, is to be expanded this year, according to a top official.
Speaking to Times of Oman, Sridhar Sridharan, managing partner, Ernst & Young Oman said, "This year we have added one more discipline, which is business administration. Last year we had considered students from accounting and the finance fields."
In 2012, students who participated in the awards came from five universities and colleges, including Sultan Qaboos University; Higher Colleges of Technology; College of Banking and Financial Studies; Majan College, and The Modern College for Business and Science. For the 2013 awards, students from Muscat College and Waljat College will also participate.
"Next year, we intend to make it a pan-national event -- by including other regional universities in Oman, such as Dhofar, Sohar, Sur, and Buraimi," added Sridhar.
He noted that the 2014 awards are to include an Information Technology category.
"The subjects we included cover a significant proportion of the higher university educational system here," Sridhar said.
Noting that Ernst & Young's Student Excellence Awards are designed to recognise outstanding students who go through a challenging and demanding evaluation process specifically designed by the firm, Sridhar said, "The idea and objective is to inspire and motivate young graduating Omani students. We believe that through this awards process, we will give them an opportunity to shine in the employment market.
"We believe this will inspire and motivate Omani nationals to compete against each other and raise the bar a little more, which should keep going up in terms of quality and excellence.
"
The award giving ceremony is scheduled for April 20.
Supporting this year's awards, Ernst & Young has 'six partners in excellence' -- American Express, BAE systems, NBO, Oman Oil, Omantel and Omran.
"We have frozen the number of partners, because it is not a commercial event. Unlike the traditional sponsorship model where the sponsor pays a lump sum amount, here we agreed to share the actual costs," Sridhar said.
Regarding their hosting the award last year, Sridhar said, "It was done more on an experimental basis last year. We approached five educational institutions (universities and colleges) and requested them to nominate their top five most outstanding students in the accounting and finance fields."
Ernst & Young Oman then brought the 25 nominated students to their office for a day of evaluation.
"We put them through Ernst and Young's highly challenging and demanding evaluation process. The evaluation consisted of a test in accounting. We also gave them 10 business ideas, asked them to choose one of them and write a business plan. We requested them to present the same business plan and then they participated in a group discussion on a topic that was chosen by them. We also put them through personal interviews. There were five categories of evaluation tests from our side. Their GPA was also another evaluation criteria," he explained.
Through these six criteria, EY executives awarded points to the students and, based on these points, they chose the top five winners.
"We gave each of the top five winners an iPad. Of these five, we then gave the top three cash awards of OMR2,000, OMR1,500 and OMR1,000. In addition, we offered them an opportunity to have a paid internship with Ernst & Young for a period of three months where, during the three months, we agreed to pay them an amount of OMR2,500," Sridhar said.
He added, "It was not just about monetary benefits. It gave them a common platform to compete among fellow students. It gave them an opportunity to prove they were up to international standards. More importantly, it improved their chances of being employed because they were presented an award given to them by a firm like Ernst & Young."
The universities and colleges were very happy, too, because the evaluation processes went beyond academics.
Testing skills
"It is not only about the highest GPA score; it tested their skills on leadership, presentations, communication, team work, ability to think on their feet, personal style, the way they carried themselves, and self confidence. It tested them on very important factors that are currently important from job perspective," he said.
This year, too, the top three winners will each receive an iPad, attractive cash rewards and opportunities to gain work experience with Ernst & Young.
"We believe that the excellence awards will inspire and motivate young Omani graduate students to strive to achieve higher standards of excellence," Sridhar added.
Muscat: The scope of the Ernst & Young Student Excellence Awards to honour outstanding Omani university and college students, which was launched last year, is to be expanded this year, according to a top official.
Speaking to Times of Oman, Sridhar Sridharan, managing partner, Ernst & Young Oman said, "This year we have added one more discipline, which is business administration. Last year we had considered students from accounting and the finance fields."
In 2012, students who participated in the awards came from five universities and colleges, including Sultan Qaboos University; Higher Colleges of Technology; College of Banking and Financial Studies; Majan College, and The Modern College for Business and Science. For the 2013 awards, students from Muscat College and Waljat College will also participate.
"Next year, we intend to make it a pan-national event -- by including other regional universities in Oman, such as Dhofar, Sohar, Sur, and Buraimi," added Sridhar.
He noted that the 2014 awards are to include an Information Technology category.
"The subjects we included cover a significant proportion of the higher university educational system here," Sridhar said.
Noting that Ernst & Young's Student Excellence Awards are designed to recognise outstanding students who go through a challenging and demanding evaluation process specifically designed by the firm, Sridhar said, "The idea and objective is to inspire and motivate young graduating Omani students. We believe that through this awards process, we will give them an opportunity to shine in the employment market.
"We believe this will inspire and motivate Omani nationals to compete against each other and raise the bar a little more, which should keep going up in terms of quality and excellence.
"
The award giving ceremony is scheduled for April 20.
Supporting this year's awards, Ernst & Young has 'six partners in excellence' -- American Express, BAE systems, NBO, Oman Oil, Omantel and Omran.
"We have frozen the number of partners, because it is not a commercial event. Unlike the traditional sponsorship model where the sponsor pays a lump sum amount, here we agreed to share the actual costs," Sridhar said.
Regarding their hosting the award last year, Sridhar said, "It was done more on an experimental basis last year. We approached five educational institutions (universities and colleges) and requested them to nominate their top five most outstanding students in the accounting and finance fields."
Ernst & Young Oman then brought the 25 nominated students to their office for a day of evaluation.
"We put them through Ernst and Young's highly challenging and demanding evaluation process. The evaluation consisted of a test in accounting. We also gave them 10 business ideas, asked them to choose one of them and write a business plan. We requested them to present the same business plan and then they participated in a group discussion on a topic that was chosen by them. We also put them through personal interviews. There were five categories of evaluation tests from our side. Their GPA was also another evaluation criteria," he explained.
Through these six criteria, EY executives awarded points to the students and, based on these points, they chose the top five winners.
"We gave each of the top five winners an iPad. Of these five, we then gave the top three cash awards of OMR2,000, OMR1,500 and OMR1,000. In addition, we offered them an opportunity to have a paid internship with Ernst & Young for a period of three months where, during the three months, we agreed to pay them an amount of OMR2,500," Sridhar said.
He added, "It was not just about monetary benefits. It gave them a common platform to compete among fellow students. It gave them an opportunity to prove they were up to international standards. More importantly, it improved their chances of being employed because they were presented an award given to them by a firm like Ernst & Young."
The universities and colleges were very happy, too, because the evaluation processes went beyond academics.
Testing skills
"It is not only about the highest GPA score; it tested their skills on leadership, presentations, communication, team work, ability to think on their feet, personal style, the way they carried themselves, and self confidence. It tested them on very important factors that are currently important from job perspective," he said.
This year, too, the top three winners will each receive an iPad, attractive cash rewards and opportunities to gain work experience with Ernst & Young.
"We believe that the excellence awards will inspire and motivate young Omani graduate students to strive to achieve higher standards of excellence," Sridhar added.
© Times of Oman 2013
