Tuesday 23 / April / 2024
Muscat: Duqm Refinery is organising its third summer leadership programme for outstanding students in the United Kingdom as part of its social investment programme for the local community.
The programme, in its third year, aims at recognising the efforts of outstanding students across the sultanate and to encourage them to exert more effort and outperform themselves in their studies. The program is delivered as part of Duqm Refinery’s commitment to programs that upskills students and to build their capabilities as responsible citizens who are committed to further develop Oman in the near future.
On this occasion, Jasim bin Hasan Al Ajmi, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Duqm Refinery stated “Duqm Refinery’s Summer leadership programme for outstanding students is organised as part of Duqm Refinery’s commitment to develop the local community and to build the capabilities of Omani youth and to uplift their potential to be leaders in the future.”
He further added, “The planning for and development of the programme is in line with His Majesty Qaboos bin Al Said's directives to empower the Omani youth and to prepare them for future challenges; we have ensured that our project is developed and managed by Omani cadres and we count on them to maintain the success and sustainability of the project.”
He concluded that the programme aims to give students not only an understanding and exposure towards new cultures while exposing them to the challenges of living abroad but also expose them to higher education opportunities available in the UK.
The programme in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and will be implemented by Technology Center for Higher Education and will last for a month. The programme will include a number of activities that aims at enriching student experience. The students will be enrolled in an English language development programme in specialised institutes in Liverpool and Manchester. The programme will also include entertainment activities such as visits to Museums and tourism sites in UK, in addition to visiting other places and cities during the programme.
Participant students are invited for a one week induction programme in which they will be introduced to some information about British culture, the laws and regulations followed in the UK and respecting the rules of the hosting families. Also, the students will be briefed about transportation and health care system in UK to facilitate their accommodation during their stay. The programme will accommodate 30 students from schools across the Sultanate, of which 20 seats were allocated for students from the Governorate of Al Wusta. Five supervisors from Duqm Refinery and Ministry of Education will supervise students during the trip.
The programme witnessed an increase in number of participants during its three years of existence. With 10 outstanding male students from Al Wusta schools in the first year, the number increased in the second year to include 20 male and female students. This year trip will see further increase in the number of participants to reach 30 students, of which 16 are males and 14 female students. Further, two outstanding students from Duqm Refinery English Language Skills Development Programme were selected to be part of this year’s trip. Student delegation for the program will leave the Sultanate this week to spend one month in UK.
Duqm Refinery Summer programme resulted in a number of positive results including encouraging students to be more motivated to perform better in their studies and to achieve better result. Some students from the previous year’s trips have already joined Engineering Colleges in Sultan Qaboos University such as Haitham bin Saloum Al Junaibi. Whereas, Humaid bin Amour Al Junaibi and Obaid bin Aboud Al Junaibi who both joined Salalah College of Technology in Chemical and mechanical engineering specialisations.
Speaking about his experience in 2017 summer programme, Haitham bin Saloum Al Junaibi stated “Duqm Refinery Summer programme helped me to build my self-confidence and shaped many of my personal attributes which helped me to access Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) . I look forward to continue my success and to achieve my personal goals and to contribute in the development of Oman”
In addition, Hanan Salim Al Junaibi, one of the students who participated last year spoke about the positive impact of the program in her academic achievement “Duqm Refinery Summer Leadership Programme in UK encouraged me to develop my personal skills by being exposed to a new culture. Also, I managed to build new relations with colleagues, in addition to enhancing my English language and communication skills”.
Salim bin Musallam Al Junaibi, one of the programme supervisors from the Ministry of Education said, "Duqm Refinery Summer Leadership Programme in UK is one of the unique youth development programs for its diverse components that combines learning and entertainment. Also, the programme aims at fine tuning the skills of Omani youth to contribute in the development of their society.”
About the challenges of the previous two editions and ways to tackle them, Al Junaibi said: “Difficulties in communication between students and the host families were among the challenges that students encountered in the previous programmes. To tackle this issue, we have organised pre-induction programme for the students to help them about the cultural differences in UK. The induction programme started this week in Muscat and will last for one month in which students will be provided with all information needed during their stay in UK.”
