Jordan- 'Internship programme to employ 500 graduates this year' 

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) About 500 Jordanian graduates majoring in ICT will be trained and recruited before the end of this year under the Graduate Internship Programme, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT).

The ministry is currently in talks with USAID and the labour ministry to train and employ a new group of graduates, MoICT Spokesperson Haitham Qaisi said on Saturday.

"We have plans to train a new batch of ICT graduates before the end of this year. I expect the training will start during the last quarter of 2012," he noted.

"So far, about 1,000 Jordanian IT graduates have benefited from the project, which is supported by the government and the private sector in order to reduce unemployment among ICT graduates," the spokesperson added.

The government subsidises 50 per cent of each beneficiary's salary, while the rest is paid by the companies that train the students.

"The project seeks to provide companies with skilled human resources that they need and secure jobs for graduates," Qaisi said.

Under the initiative, launched in 2009, fresh graduates in various IT-related majors, or those who have not been employed in the sector for up to two years, can compete for private sector jobs by submitting their CVs to the programme's website (www.gip.gov.jo).

Selected applicants receive 12 months of training and are secured employment at a private sector firm with a JD300 monthly salary as well as social security and health insurance coverage.

Around 6,000 Jordanians graduate annually with ICT-related degrees, while some 22,000 students are currently studying ICT-related majors at the country's universities, according to the ICT Association of Jordan (int@j).

The association recently announced plans to revise the programme in order to increase the number of beneficiaries across the country.