Abu Dhabi, 28th Jan. 2014 (WAM) - The Statistical Training Institute (STI) of Statistics Centre ? Abu Dhabi (SCAD) has been certified to the "ISO 10015" Training System Quality Management standard by BSI ? UK.

The certificate award was attended by Ms. Raba?a Baniyas, Acting STI Manager, Mr. Abdulla Omar Abdulla, Technical Advisor, and a number of senior management from SCAD and BSI ? UK.

Butti Ahmed Al Qubaisi, Director General of SCAD, praised this achievement as a step for the STI towards evolving into a world-class statistical training institution.

"The certificate is not the end goal" he added, "but is a milestone in the practical realization of an integrated vision, which seeks to attain excellence in statistical training, not only within the Emirate, but at the regional level as well, in line with SCAD?s strategy and operational plans that aims to upgrade the tools and professional expertise of statistical practice".

Al Qubaisi also acknowledged the STI?s staff on this distinguished certificate, urging them to keep up the exceptional job they are doing in building statistical capabilities to take statistical work to the highest standards of excellence.

He announced the STI?s plan for 2014, which includes more than 100 training courses for SCAD staff and other entities. Different types of courses are covered in 2014 training plan such as Statistical courses, soft skills, leadership, health and safety etc .

Al Qubaisi invited government entities in Abu Dhabi Emirate to take advantage of these courses, which the STI is seeks to meet the diverse needs of various government agencies in Abu Dhabi. STI endeavors to foster closer cooperation with these entities and involve them in the analysis of the outcomes of the courses attended by their staff, in order to develop their statistical capabilities to better match their work requirement.

SCAD emphasized the importance of the STI website as a source of detailed information for interested parties on the services of the institute.

SCAD announced that 671 government employees form 71 entities attended the 60 courses organized by SCAD?s Statistical Training Institute (STI) in 2013, including 269 staff members from SCAD and other government entities. It is worthy to mention that the total number of SACD UAE national attended the courses and have Personal Development Plan; are 191 employees.

STI?s 2013 statistics indicate that 117 SCAD employees completed 60 training hours and 96 out of 117 Emirati SCAD employees took part in 46 local, GCC or international conferences during 2013.

17,414 was completed training hours that SCAD employees attended during 2013. included five categories which are Leadership with 316 training hours, followed by Supervision with 2925 training hours, than Specialized, which was most in demand training with 8135, followed by the Technical was representing 1466 training hours, and finally the Executive with 4572 training hours.

In addition, STI organized 81 workshops; including 20/20 short seminars with open discussions and Knowledge Sharing seminars on a range of vital topics.

Al Qubaisi emphasize that the vision Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi is to grow into a distinguished institution, contributing to efforts of development in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi by building the statistical system of the Emirate according to the highest international standards. Of crucial importance to this goal is specialized national team, the scarcity of whom was a key challenge for the centre. STI was able to overcome this challenge and build national statistical competencies, with 269 staff from SCAD and other entities attending the courses at STI in 2013.

As indicated earlier 107 SCAD Emirati employees attended the as per their Personal Development Plan, which represents a significant achievement to overcome the scarcity of expert statisticians among UAE citizens.

According to SCAD, the STI offers courses in a wide range of topics including economic, demographic, social, agricultural, and environmental statistics, surveys, statistical research and general statistics, to meet the needs of Government agencies in various statistical disciplines and to cooperate with them in the evaluation of the inputs and outputs of the courses as per the specific requirements of the participants, in fulfillment of its mission to raise the efficiency of personnel working in the statistical units of these agencies.

SCAD maintains coordination with several internationally recognized universities and institutes in the field of statistics as strategic partners of the Institute in the delivery of high-quality courses in accordance with international standards.

Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi invite all government entities in Abu Dhabi Emirate to take advantage of the training programs organized by SCAD?s Institute of Statistical Training, which are presented by highly competent experts in the various fields of applied statistics, including population censuses and various types of specialized field surveys.

Al Qubaisi pointed out that in order to achieve this strategic goal, the institute is assessing training needs in statistical and support areas in the emirate, and preparing plans and training programs that would help to raise the professional competence of statistical personnel, targeting the staff of Statistics Centre ? Abu Dhabi and the local departments and agencies that produce or use data, and the staff of the federal ministries of related scope to any of SCAD?s areas of work, in addition to the staff of local and GCC based statistical agencies, within the framework of joint cooperation in this regard.

SCAD?s Director General emphasized the huge significance of outstanding human resources for the successful functioning of all organizations. This prompted SCAD to establish its Statistical Training Institute, recognizing the challenge to statistical work presented by the rapid growth the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is currently experiencing in various areas of development. In this regard, SCAD remains committed to the standards of statistical excellence and the provision of the necessary statistical tools for monitoring development indicators, in ways that can help to forecast future scenarios and draw appropriate plans and strategies, in the context of SCAD?s efforts towards achieving the ambitious vision of Abu Dhabi Government, under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and the continued support of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

SCAD?s Director General remarked that through the STI, the Centre seeks to build a base of competent human resources that would provide the statistical service required to meet the needs of various users, as soon as possible. This can only be attained through a specialized training institute to prepare, implement and manage statistical training activities on a regular basis and in a consistent manner, in line with the objectives of the Centre and the statistical units of government and private agencies that produce or use statistical data in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2014.