I've had the pleasure of training many young (and not so young) Qataris on courses designed to help them achieve skills for the work place. Firstly, I think we must remember people of any nationality are unlikely to have the skills to undertake many positions directly out of high school and even graduates around the world routinely complete job-specific training before they are fully competent in post. Also, like any other country, there is of course a range of abilities and motivation levels. I've had students who either don't turn up or try to sleep through class and students who have stunned me with their dedication, drive and capabilities. I am not sure what the aim of the study in the source article was; perhaps to identify areas for improvement in the education system? Qatar is very young in terms of development, and their education system had come on leaps and bounds in recent years. It will take time for the effects of this to filter down through the generations. Students now start learning English from the word go but this was not the case twenty years ago, so older people may have more to do here, if it is a requirement of many employers as the article suggests. I have found that the bedouin-style students often lack English and general study skills more often too, but please correct me if I am making wrong assumptions! I am not sure what effect the change from teaching courses in English to teaching in Arabic at Qatar University will have....Qatari employees are offered a wealth of training as part of companies' Qatarisation schemes, but this is not without problems. I have heard of many keen Qatari trainees who are not given the right encouragement and supervision in their development plans as current employees fear if the Qataris become competent they will 'steal' their jobs.
I've had the pleasure of training many young (and not so young) Qataris on courses designed to help them achieve skills for the work place. Firstly, I think we must remember people of any nationality are unlikely to have the skills to undertake many positions directly out of high school and even graduates around the world routinely complete job-specific training before they are fully competent in post. Also, like any other country, there is of course a range of abilities and motivation levels. I've had students who either don't turn up or try to sleep through class and students who have stunned me with their dedication, drive and capabilities. I am not sure what the aim of the study in the source article was; perhaps to identify areas for improvement in the education system? Qatar is very young in terms of development, and their education system had come on leaps and bounds in recent years. It will take time for the effects of this to filter down through the generations. Students now start learning English from the word go but this was not the case twenty years ago, so older people may have more to do here, if it is a requirement of many employers as the article suggests. I have found that the bedouin-style students often lack English and general study skills more often too, but please correct me if I am making wrong assumptions! I am not sure what effect the change from teaching courses in English to teaching in Arabic at Qatar University will have....Qatari employees are offered a wealth of training as part of companies' Qatarisation schemes, but this is not without problems. I have heard of many keen Qatari trainees who are not given the right encouragement and supervision in their development plans as current employees fear if the Qataris become competent they will 'steal' their jobs.