Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Ramadan 8, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Students to be trained in key life skills

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MUSCAT: The Faculty of Business and Economics of the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) has partnered this year with Outward Bound Oman to run the annual students’ excursion of the BSc programme International Business and Service Management (IBSM).


The IBSM programme is a four-year business degree focusing on the tourism sector. In the first year students study a module on Tourism Geography of Oman; the module includes a mandatory field trip to one of Oman’s many tourism destinations. This year’s trip was organised between January 2 and January 5 to Wadi al Abyad in which 38 first year students participated. During the trip the students carried all the supplies including water and sleeping equipment, prepared their own food, and had to draw on qualities like teamwork, initiative, communication and perseverance to solve a series of problems and challenges.


“In the previous years we only focused on familiarising the students with Oman’s many tourism assets and encourage them to critically assess it; we did not focus on capacity building or character building specifically. Our collaboration with Outward Bound Oman has managed to combine our academic goals with the great programme of character building and life skills development, enabling the students to not only discover Oman, but also discover themselves, GUtech is privileged to have established this partnership with Outward Bound Oman,” said Dr Heba Aziz, Head of the Department of Logistics, Tourism and Service Management.


Taif al Kindi, a student studying international business and tourism, said: “This excursion is an experience that I will never forget. It taught me a lot about myself that I didn’t know. I learnt how to work with a team and most importantly to stick as a team at the end of the day. It taught me how to test my limits, even when I think that I can’t go anymore. I realise that nothing can stop me and that I am my only competitor”.


The students were accompanied by a number of leaders from Outward Bound, and Amjaad al Hinai a GUtech Alumni and currently a lecturer at the department: “I was able to see the students develop and grow in the four days — the change was almost instant, we are committed to continue exposing the students to out of the classroom experiences,” said Al Hinai.


Outward Bound Oman uses the outdoor environment to physically and mentally challenge the young participants, and to help them develop the key life skills sought by employers, thus helping bridge the gap between educational environments and the workplace. The Outward Bound/Tahaddi initiative is a first for the Middle East region, and recognises the importance of training and development for local people. It is committed to develop the nation’s human resources in accordance with Oman’s Vision 2020.


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