Prince Hassan, Razzaz review sectoral studies results

AMMAN — HRH Prince Hassan, chairman of the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST), on Thursday attended the launching event of the sectoral studies results, in the presence of Prime Minister Omar Razzaz.

The studies, which were conducted by the HCST's National Centre for Human Resources Development, aimed at identifying the demand and supply side in terms of quality and quantity for each target sector, including tourism, telecommunications, information technology and construction, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.  

It entailed estimating the quantitative and qualitative gap between the supply and demand in each sector, as well as up scaling human resources development plans for the target sectors.

Noting that the Canadian model was taken as an example when establishing the centre, Prince Hassan stressed that Canada is "one of the most advanced countries in the field of demographic studies".

He stressed the importance of having a national knowledge system circulating accurate information instead of depending on the international organisations present in the Kingdom.

For his part, Razzaz pointed out that employment is an essential part of the government's programme, stressing the need for young people to effectively engage in society.

He highlighted the need to study young people's reluctance to practise some professions, indicating that such tendencies have always been attributed to "the culture of shame". He stressed, however, the presence of a "culture of employment" among employers, which he said is widespread in sectors that employ foreign workers, noting that some employers prefer to hire foreign workers rather than Jordanians for jobs entailing longer working hours and less safety conditions, so as to bypass some of the labour law provisions.

Razzaz praised the efforts of the National Centre for Human Resources Development, pointing out that the studies carried out by the centre will contribute to the process of development. 

Among the recommendations of the study were the institutionalisation of the academic and training programmes development according to the needs of the national, regional and global markets, the integration of life, leadership and supportive skills for employment as a mandatory tool in the educational and training programmes and the support of the directives of the Higher Education Council to attach the opening of new academic disciplines with the market's needs, in addition to cancelling or withholding any educational or training programmes that are not required for the labour market.