There is no doubt in my mind that a country’s economic and social progress largely depends on its knowledgeable human capital, which is why in the UAE Emiratisation holds much importance. The engine for growth and sustaining it in the 21st century is a ‘knowledge economy’, also known as intellectual capital. All competitiveness and productivity is linked to it.
Countries who adopted and diversified a knowledge based economy achieved positive results in their economic development initiatives. It’s a concept that has an enormous impact in different areas of business. Most importantly, it has impacted the roles and responsibilities of the incumbent performing professional duties and progresses job refinement.
The UAE’s vision is to become an internationally competitive and diversified economy under the leadership of efficient and knowledgeable Emiratis. To become an efficient and knowledgeable nation, the authorities, the public and private sectors and academia need to play a vital role in making Emiratisation successful enough to exceed the expectations as outlined in the country’s economic vision 2030.
As the UAE economy is diversifying, new jobs and roles are under creation and this is why Emiratisation is gaining momentum. Different councils and entities within the authorities are playing crucial roles to help Emiratis get jobs. To make all these initiatives and efforts more fruitful, Emirati fresh graduates need to know the workplace culture and its challenges in advance for public and private sector organisations. It’s crucial so that once they become part of these organisation, they feel engaged and able to contribute to the success of the organisation. Knowledge about organisational behaviour, diversity management, job role, responsibilities and expectations are important aspects of the process.
Identification of innate abilities and raw talent at an academic level and then nurturing it is crucial in converting raw talent into a professional strength. This strength is the building block of a knowledge economy. Academia has a strong role to play to either transform the individual into the professional they aspire to be. This contributes to becoming a responsible and aspiring citizen who can add value to economic development of the country in the long run.
Increasing the national workforce participation rate in the current labour market is one aspect in making sustainable growth for the economy and the individual’s career. Local and foreign qualified graduates possess very high energy and hunger to develop and create something new. If the organisation culture and system lacks an environment for innovation, creativity and active participation of the newly acquired talent, it leads to feeling disengaged and employees leave for better career opportunities fairly quickly.
Hence, great effort is required to redesign jobs as per industry needs and academia must refine their curriculum and courseware to reflect these requirements in their degree programs. The ultimate aim of both industry and academia should be to develop and utilise individual talent, give full career growth opportunities, pay for performance and rewards for talent.
- The reader is a life coach based in Pakistan.
