An SEC member talks about business,
education
and strengthening the SEC's structure
Mohammed Saleh
Al-Sada is one of the members of the Supreme Education Council drawn from Qatar's
leading industries and businesses. Born in Doha and raised in the coastal
village of Al-Ruwais, Dr. Al-Sada inherited an early fascination with marine
life from his father, who was a pearl diver. He earned his Bachelor's
degree in Marine Science and Geology from Qatar University and began his career
with Qatar Petroleum (QP) on offshore projects. Dr. Al-Sada, a father of five,
went on to obtain Master's and Doctorate
degrees in Corrosion Science and Engineering at the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology in the U.K.
Dr. Al-Sada,
45, has stayed with QP and now serves
as its director technical, where he directs management of
multi-million-dollar projects for the company. He also has become increasingly
involved in civic activities, participating in a range of efforts to develop
Qatar's public institutions. As such, he was a member of the committee that
wrote the country's 2003 Constitution, has served on the national committee for
human rights, and helped set up the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, among
other public-sector endeavors. As a member of the executive committee and board,
he helped establish the Qatar campus of the College of the North Atlantic.
In this exclusive interview with "Education
for a New Era", Dr. Al-Sada discusses what
industrialists and businessmen bring to the SEC, how industry stands to
benefit from reform, and ways the Council is reinforcing its institutions.
Q. As an
industrialist, can you tell us how you became involved in developing and
implementing educational policy?
As a firm
believer in the profound effect of education in the development of our people
and generally in human development, in the industry we feel the need more than
anybody else for competent staff to sustain the continuous development of our
economy.
Q. What
roles do industry and business play in the reform process?
Industry and
business are partners in education, as they are not only the eventual recipients
of the outcome of education, but also partnering the process of developing
education. They participate in various facets, and in fact it is evident now,
especially at the higher-education level, that curriculum and some of our
institutions are mutually developed. In addition, they make sure the supply of
trainees and students is continuous. At the K-12 level, there are strenuous
efforts to develop stronger ties, and personally I believe these ties are bound
to be as strong as possible, because this is the foundation basically for the
prosperity of education.
Q. What do business leaders bring to the SEC, which is composed of members from
varied backgrounds, that's unique?
Well basically
linking the industrial sector to the education policy-making level, on the one
hand. On the other hand, we give the required support and advice to the Council
from the industrial angle. As you can see, the composition of the Council is of
a diversified nature. And that helps a lot, because matters are being discussed
from various facets and in a comprehensive manner.
Q. Are Qatar's industries benefiting from
the reform drive already, even though it is only a few years old?
We firmly
believe that eventually industry and other sectors in our country will
definitely benefit from the reform. The thing is that the reform is a long-term
enterprise and we should watch and wait for the results as they come gradually.
It takes time, but it's worth it.
Q. How long
do you think it will take for Qatar's schools to begin
producing graduates who are fully prepared to compete in the job market?
Some of the
higher education institutes of Qatar have already directed their policies
towards hands-on types of occupational training. This type of training gives us
the benefit directly so that we don't have to retrain. That is only one of the
fruits that we are getting. Others, from K-12 basically, need time. But we think
that it's worth it and we think that they
will eventually come with a better foundation so that they can join higher
education and eventually join the industry.
Q. What is
it about the reform initiative, and the Independent Schools, that will better
equip students for the job market?
Critical
thinking is a pillar in education. Development and curriculum are definitely
important. However, there are other skills required, like thinking from a wider
angle, like relating things together, developing personal opinion in matters,
discussing things freely, judging for themselves. Those skills are of crucial
importance in my view.
Q. On the
policy side, are there any new initiatives that the SEC is planning to adopt in
the next year or two?
Yes, in fact
the Council is very active in pursuing a number of initiatives. I can cite some,
such as institutional development. We have a team now consisting of some members
of the SEC with the directors of the Institutes to develop the organization, the
processes, the human development of employees, staffing appropriately, linking
the institutions with schools in a smooth manner, allowing the institutes to
work independently while working with each other. We are engaging an external
consultant to help out. As you know, the ultimate target is to get a
world-class education in Qatar. That requires world-class Institutes. And this
is what we are heading for.
Q. What is
the status of the project to build new facilities to house the SEC and its
Institutes?
The new
building is under the design phase now. The government gave us prime land just
next to Qatar University and Qatar Petroleum is honored to be trusted with the
supervision and management of this project. I think the construction phase is
planned to start toward the end of this year. The idea is to house in one place
everybody involved in this reform.
Q. Outside streamlining the functioning of the SEC and Institutes, what other
institution-building initiatives can you mention?
We also have
the teachers' development program for
pre-service training, and this is jointly done between Qatar University and
Texas A&M. In-service development is another thing. We are pursuing national
professional standards for teachers. At the same time, as we progress, we are
evaluating our reform through different means, and we already orchestrated
mechanisms to evaluate it. Qatar will participate for the first time in
international studies to benchmark the standards of our students to their
international counterparts. We will start this March with some international
screenings like PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS.
Q. In
general, is the SEC satisfied the Independent Schools -- their operators,
teachers and students -- are producing the expected results?
They are
progressing very well. They are learning themselves because the system is quite
new. They are producing results. However, a lot of support is coming from the
Institutes. The Institutes are giving them guidance and following progress and
trying to de-bottleneck issues of a difficult nature.
Q. Is there discussion within the SEC of the issue of maintaining two parallel
public education systems?
Our government
is looking at the Independent Schools as only part of the education reform. As
we are progressing well, as we are producing more results, certainly the
government will opt for what is best for the students. This is why we are
continuously evaluating the reform, and certainly as we can see now the
education reform is progressing well and producing results. And that encourages
us to turn more and more schools into Independent Schools.
