AMMAN - Some 180 fresh university and community college graduates have entered the workforce after completing a two-month training course conducted by the Employment and Training Programme for Youth, Maharat.
Maharat is one of the USAID-funded Tatweer project initiatives, run by the Business Development Centre (BDC), which provides training and job opportunities to graduates in order to match their skills with labour market needs.
One of the trainees who graduated on Wednesday was Ruba Smadi.
The Yarmouk University graduate said the skills she acquired through her participation in Maharat opened new horizons and polished her communication skills.
"The programme taught me proper time management and negotiation skills," Smadi said at the event.
Labour Minister Ghazi Shbeikat, who attended the graduation ceremony yesterday, encouraged university graduates not to be selective when looking for jobs.
"Labour Ministry statistics show that there are thousands of job vacancies, which were not filled by Jordanians due to the work location and nature," the minister noted, adding that tackling unemployment is one of the ministry's top priorities.
Shbeikat pointed out that last year the ministry signed a JD1 million agreement with the BDC and Maharat programme to secure 2,300 jobs by the end of 2009, under which the ministry agreed to support the initiative by linking the programme to its national training and recruitment projects.
The programme not only targets university graduates, but also gives community college graduates the opportunity to benefit from its courses.
Speaking on behalf of 30 community college graduates who participated in the programme, Eyyad Elayyan noted that they are "no less than university graduates and posses the same potential and skills if not more".
BDC President and CEO Nayef Stetieh said the centre's future plans include training groups with lower levels of education.
"The programme will expand its services to include high school graduates in the near future," he said, noting that since its establishment three years ago, Maharat has succeeded in securing jobs for around 2,660 graduates.
In his address at the ceremony, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Walid Maani stressed the importance of communication skills and well prepared CVs, in addition to character integrity, which he said the country's higher education system has failed to address.
"Local universities, unfortunately, focus on communication skills from a different perspective. Communication skills is not speaking a second language, rather it is learning how to listen, how to operate in a team spirit, and how to be well-organised," he said.
Maani noted that public sector institutions do not only look for academic degrees, they also search for practical experience, tolerance and personality, which the Maharat programme provides to participants so they can contribute to boosting the company's business and profits.
Currently, two public universities, Yarmouk and Al Hussein, have introduced the Maharat course as electives, according to Maani, who added that the programme will eventually be included in all public universities.
By Hani Hazaimeh
© Jordan Times 2009
