Muscat: The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MoHERI) in collaboration with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) on Wednesday launched the second phase of the National Internship Program “Eidaad”.
The program extends for a full academic year and targets students in their final academic year from public and private higher education institutions.
Dr Rahma Ibrahim al Mahrouqi, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation affirmed that “Eidaad” is an ambitious national program aimed at preparing a national workforce with dynamic skills to compete and comply with the needs of the labour market.
On his turn, Dr Salim Khamis al Abri, Assistant Director-General for Programs and Quality Assurance in the Directorate General of Private Universities and Colleges, said that “Eidaad” aims to expand the number of accepted candidates every year, as well as to increase the number of higher education institutions, programs and specializations which offer internships.
Al Abri added that the program also aims to comprise all public and private universities, as well as all scientific, technical and vocational specializations which require internships by 2040. The program also seeks to expand the number of institutions adopting the program from the private industry sector.
Meanwhile, Eng. Hamad Saif al Hadhrami, Manager of Training and External Development in PDO said that “Eidaad” now includes 10 academic and 13 industrial institutions, pointing out that there is a plan targeting the remaining institutions from the same categories.
The launch of the program also included the signing of several cooperation protocols between the industrial and academic sectors which aim to support the plans of “Eidaad”.
The ministry also signed a cooperation agreement with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) to fund 100 educational scholarships for vocational specializations in vocational colleges in the current academic year 2020/2021.
The agreement was signed by Dr Rahma Ibrahim al Mahrouqi, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and Steve Phimister, Managing Director of PDO.
It is worth noting that “Eidaad” began its first phase in the academic year 2020/2021 with the participation of 250 students from 5 universities. Moreover, 4 institutions from the private industry sector were chosen as training centres. --ONA
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