(MENAFNEditorial)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 18 June 2012 – Scottish students from Stevenson College Edinburgh (SCE) will compete against students from Dubai's National Institution for Vocational Education (NIVE) today.
The 'International Innovators Competition' marks the culmination of an 18-month partnership between the institutions, which was wholly supported by the British Council Skills for Employability Programme. Launched in November 2010, the project is designed to encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to further develop their creative ideas, with the Skills for Employability project teams from SCE and NIVE integrating entrepreneurial skills into their curricula.
"Business acumen is a necessary skill that students must pick up while studying, in order to be competitive employees in today's employment landscape and ensure success. The International Innovators Competition gives Emirati students the opportunity to pit these newly-learned entrepreneurial skills against students from the UK, ultimately leading to enhanced employability post-graduation," said Richard Cotton, Country Director for the British Council UAE.
"This competition has been 18 months in the making, following significant advice and support from successful local entrepreneurs and employers for both groups of students, and we expect a very high calibre of projects presented today," he added.
As part of the competition, SCE students designed and created innovative board games, and NIVE students developed and refined original business and marketing plans. The students were aided with feedback and support from local employers and successful local entrepreneurs. Prior to today's final competition, student groups competed in local, preliminary heats with panels of judges to determine student representatives from each institution.
Dr. Naji AlMahdi, Executive Director for NIVE said: "The staff and students and NIVE are excited about the competition with SCE. It will add another dimension to our partnership and will enable us to showcase the wonderful work our students have done over the past year in developing their business ideas. The skills for employability programme has helped us at NIVE to focus on the essential skills needed by employers and helped our students to be better prepared for the workplace. We thank our partners in SCE and the British Council for helping us to succeed in providing the best for our students."
The project has used innovative methods to encourage Scottish and Emirati students to motivate and support each other through the development of their ideas. SCE's virtual learning environment, Desire 2 Learn (D2L), has provided an excellent platform for communication and exchange.
Students will be judged on their project delivery, structure and use of resources, as well as subject knowledge. The final competition is taking place 18 June at the NIVE campus, in the heart of Dubai's Academic City
The Skills for Employability Programme supports partnerships that focus on developing education and training programmes to meet the needs of local and global industry. To date, the British Council has facilitated partnerships that have increased employer engagement, promoted entrepreneurship, encouraged student exchanges and developed new qualifications and quality assurance systems.
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