King Abdullah II School of Information Technology held a gathering of information and communication technology companies as part of the University of Jordan's initiative for Capacity building in Information Technology (BuildTech). under the patronage of the university's president, Dr Nathir Obeidat, and in the presence of several representatives of ICT companies in Jordan.
In his speech, Obeidat said that Information and Communication Technology is one of the most important fields globally, and it's linked to all sectors of all kinds. He praised the excellence of the school and the global accreditation it has achieved for all of its undergraduate academic programs.
Dr. Majdi Sawalha presented an overview of the goal and objective for the BuildTech initiative. The initiative focused on improving job readiness skills for students.
Education deserves corporate partners to invest in it for the long haul.” How? By bridging the gap between students’ skill sets and workforce requirements.
Why? A step towards digital economy development that provides massive returns for the private sector, students, and educators alike.
‘By developing the sector each company is paving the way to develop itself'
Companies provide the ‘assets’ now, for students to provide the ‘rewards’ in the future. A mutually beneficial cycle.
This is an internationally known phenomenon, where major companies (such as in Silicon Valley) invest millions each year in education as they realize its benefits for:
1. Community goodwill / CSR
2. Enhancing brand affinity and loyalty
3. Hiring a set of skilled students and already qualified graduates
4. Contributing to the entire sector and economic development
Having corporate partners invest in education will yield in a future talent pool. When this talent pool is provided with the right job opportunity, they are transformed into a skilled workforce. The skilled workforce provides corporates with massive advantages in global export of IT solutions, enhanced innovation and sales, and strengthened institutional capacity. This is all while reducing training efforts and costs for each individual company