Supporting the growing technology sector in Jordan

Amman, Jordan: As part of its ongoing efforts to build digital skills capacity in youth globally, Microsoft, through its Microsoft 4Afrika initiative, has partnered with three Jordanian universities to launch SkillsLab programmes aimed at addressing the shortage of digital talent in Jordan, empowering young interns with digital and artificial intelligence upskilling.

The SkillsLab programme is part of a partnership between Microsoft, the Crown Prince Foundation of Jordan and the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MoDEE), which was established in an effort to empower Jordanian citizens through digital upskilling. This partnership was formalised during the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement at the beginning of 2020.

Almost 70 percent of Jordan’s population are under 30 years of age, and this is expected to rise even further by 2030. In the second quarter of 2020, the unemployment rate rose to reach 23 percent, of which 44,5 percent are university graduates. With youth comprising the country’s largest and fastest-growing demographic, the employability of this sector is key to enabling them to develop solutions for the issues they face. The education system has not kept pace with a rapidly changing world and the mismatch between employer and market requirements and the skills of prospective employees has contributed to the country’s high unemployment rate.

The Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative promotes affordable access to the internet, world-class skills and innovation to unlock and accelerate Africa’s potential to create technology not only for the continent, but for the world. 4Afrika enables Microsoft’s global mission in Africa: Empowering every organisation and person to achieve more. Now, following the positive impact that the SkillsLabs and other development programmes have had in Africa, Microsoft 4Afrika is extending its reach beyond African shores to promote skills development in the wider region.

Microsoft 4Afrika’s SkillsLab programme helps students to develop essential workplace skills and provide them with practical experiences, leveraging emerging technologies to develop innovative technology solutions. The SkillsLabs promote peer-learning to empower the interns to develop the right mindset working in teams to develop innovative projects. After graduating from the programme, apprentices have priority access to jobs through the Microsoft Partner Network. In addition, the skills gained from the programme ensure that these interns have the know-how to become successful entrepreneurs.

While this is the first SkillsLab programme in Jordan, there are currently 28 SkillsLabs operating in 12 countries across Africa, with 2,455 apprentices having successfully graduated and an 85% employment rate within three months. The initiative has been recognised by the International Finance Corporation as a best practice example of developing skills in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Al Hussein Technical University (HTU), a Crown Prince Foundation Initiative, was the first university in Jordan to spearhead the SkillsLab programme, with the first batch of interns successfully graduating from the programme in October 2020, having completed a six-month apprenticeship working on projects, becoming Microsoft Cloud Certified and developing necessary auxiliary workplace skills such as critical thinking, collaboration and communication, and creative skills, through the Microsoft Learn Portal and LinkedIn. Three virtual workshops were also delivered during the period of lockdown by Microsoft volunteers from the MySkills4Afrika programme on topics including Azure, Data and AI and Design Thinking. Within three months of graduating, 50 percent of the HTU graduates have already been placed in employment.

Since HTU started the SkillsLab, two other universities have joined the programme, the Princess Sumaya University of Technology (PSUT) and the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST). The second batch of HTU interns joined the programme in November 2020, while PSUT and JUST are in the process of onboarding selected candidates, who were selected following a call for applications through the universities’ internal communications platforms.

The Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, Ahmad Al-Hananda, praised the joint efforts between Microsoft, Crown Prince Foundation, Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MoDEE), and several Jordanian universities, which led to the launch of the SkillsLab programme aimed at developing digital skills among Jordanian youth. Providing them with practical experiences and taking advantage of emerging technologies to develop innovative technical solutions is considered one of the most important pillars that the Ministry seeks to achieve through several programmes that it supervises in cooperation with the private sector, which is considered a key partner in the process of digital transformation.

Through its various programmes, MoDEE is striving to provide training opportunities for Jordanian youth, to develop digital skills aligned with future labour market requirements, such as the Training and Employment Programme tailored for ICT sector graduates (GIP), designed to train and employ graduates in professional workplaces (private sector companies and government universities), and the National ICT Upskilling Programme, which aims to train 500 graduates annually on the cutting-edge skills required by the labour market. Recently MoDEE has joined forces with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to work on the “Youth, Technology and Jobs project”, launched by the Jordanian government last year to enhance the digital skills of youth and blend those skills into different educational phases, to prepare youth for future jobs depending on the latest technologies. Where it’s supposed to start implementing a project at public schools from 7th grade to 12^th grade "Tawjihi”, teaching them digital skills.

“Outpacing the rate of change driven by emerging technologies, there is a need for nimble and focused learning opportunities that can derive tangible benefits,” says Martin Ndlovu, Skills Programme Manager at Microsoft 4Afrika. “As more and more organisations start their digital transformation journeys, it is becoming more evident that one of the biggest barriers to transformation is the lack of professionals who are skilled in technologies relevant to the 4th Industrial Revolution. Through its skilling initiatives, Microsoft aims to address these challenges by skilling and upskilling individuals to adequately seize these opportunities.”

“The SkillsLab Programme offers our students the opportunity to be product-knowledgeable, as they will have access to the Microsoft Cloud Platform to develop their projects. We are excited to be able to give our students learning opportunities that provide practical uses for their knowledge and skills,” says Dr Ismael Al-Hinti, President of HTU.

“Our wish is that we can provide learning opportunities to students that add to their employability and enable them to find graduate-level jobs or build their capacity to set up their own knowledge-based businesses. The SkillsLabs will produce graduates who are workplace-ready and instantly productive, and who are equipped with the right skillsets to work on emerging technologies,” says Dr Tamam Mango, CEO of the Crown Prince Foundation

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About Microsoft 4Afrika

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.

The 4Afrika Initiative is Microsoft’s business and market development engine in Africa. Launched in 2013, it aims to unlock and accelerate Africa’s potential to create technology not only for the continent, but for the world.

In seven years, the 4Afrika initiative has reached 1,7 million small and medium businesses, supported more than 300 startups, 12 accelerator partnerships, upskilled 108,000 Africans in Microsoft Cloud Society, placed 926 interns with 176 partners with an 85 percent retention rate, and produced 2,073 graduates from 19 Skills Labs, with an 85% employment rate. The initiative has been recognised by the International Finance Corporation as a best practice example of developing skills in sub-Saharan Africa.

About Al Hussein University

Founded in 2016 as a Crown Prince Foundation initiative and a private, non-profit applied technical education institute, HTU was built on an industry-leading, innovative collaboration model that was designed to push the frontiers of teaching and learning. The model is set on comprehensive and yet flexible technical education, while driving professional development and community engagement, as well as fuelling the growth of innovation and business acceleration. All HTU programmes have industrial collaboration and co-creation as their main enabler. By recognising the important role that industrial partners play, agency and responsibility is granted to the private sector as main stakeholders in the TVET training and education process.

About the Crown Prince Foundation of Jordan

The Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) was established in 2015 with an underlying strategy to advocate for mainstreaming youth in all national development efforts with focus on 3 foundational areas: 1. Employability & Entrepreneurship; 2. Citizenship; and 3. Leadership. CPF aims to drive growth with a "youth" centric lens, resulting in a young nation with responsible, engaged, productive and thriving youth. CPF’s approach includes a journey addressing the participants’ capacity requirements, to enable youth who are self-driven to create their own opportunities for better livelihoods and income mobility.

© Press Release 2021