Humaidan Inaugurates “Career Fair 2023” at Bahrain Polytechnic

31-05-2023

H.E. Mr. Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan, Minister of Labour, inaugurated the "Career Fair 2023" held by Bahrain Polytechnic on Wednesday, at the university's headquarters in Isa Town, along with H.E. Mr. Wael bin Nasser Al Mubarak, Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the College. Also present at the opening, were HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour, Prof. Ciarán Ó Catháin, CEO of the College and a number of invitees. The event aims to enhance career guidance for university students by reviewing the jobs available in the labour market. This exhibition also aims to introduce the market's needs for national competencies in various functional disciplines, especially in emerging and future professions in the technological sectors and the knowledge economy. In a speech during the ceremony, Humaidan stressed that the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain recognises the importance of the contributions of national and private universities and institutions concerned with education and training as a social partner within plans and programs to achieve alignment of education and training outputs geared to the needs of the labour market. He also highlighted its role in launching many pioneering national initiatives aimed at promoting the integration of graduates in the labour market and the optimal investment of national human resources. The minister pointed that these initiatives will be strengthened by launching the Employment Skills Platform at the national level, which serves the student, employer and all those concerned with the future of the labour market to know the renewed future professions, and work to encourage new school graduates to join the technical and vocational tracks. Humaidan noted the existing cooperation between the Ministry of Labour, Bahrain Polytechnic College, and the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), which culminated in the signing of several memorandums of understanding to train and qualify graduates with specialisations that face difficulty in integrating into the labour market. All these arrangements are aimed at equipping graduates with the necessary skills that employers need, including design, digital transformation, human resources, information analysis and others. In this context, the Labour Minister praised the college's strategy in developing the education and training system, especially in the sectors of information and communication technology and artificial intelligence, which are among the promising sectors in the labour market. For his part, Prof. Ó Catháin affirmed the keenness of Bahrain Technical College to provide a platform for the graduates and students at the college to communicate directly with employers, about the required jobs. He reiterated the college's interest in informing employers about the skills of college students and providing them with the opportunity to identify the most skilled candidates for future jobs. H.E. the Minister of Labour, accompanied by H.E. the Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the College and the attendees, toured the stalls participating in the exhibition, and reviewed the graduation projects of a number of students from various disciplines.