Doha: The College of the North Atlantic — Qatar (CNA-Q) is set to host an international conference of technical and vocational education experts.
The “Global Innovators 2013: Leading and Learning in Technical and Vocational Education” will be held at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) from April 4 to 7.
“We have come so far since our 2002 opening in a temporary campus in Al Rayyan with 300 students and 50 staff,” said Dr Latifa Ibrahim Al Houty, Vice Chair, Executive Committee, CNA-Q, one of the founders of Qatar’s first technical college.
“H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser envisioned a technical college that would put Qatar on the map while producing competent leaders of industry for the future — and now, 10 years later, we have over 3,000 graduates who are helping to shape our country’s strategic economic and development goals for future generations.”
The conference will highlight Qatar’s progress in the field of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and how this focus is helping it realise its National Vision 2030 and goals of the National Development Strategy.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, CAN-Q is changing the educational culture of the country, and equipping young Qataris to become active members of Qatar’s growing workforce.
“We have made significant achievements in technical education in Qatar in the past decade, and felt that it was time to host a global gathering that would focus the TVET industry on Qatar’s successes,” said Jason Rolls, Dean, Language Studies and Academics, CNA-Q.
Rolls, along with Dr Michael Long, Chair, Office of Applied Research and Innovation at CNA-Q, will co-chair the conference.
“We also wanted to bring new perspectives to the industry as a whole, and provide a way for TVET professionals to benefit by sharing ideas and best practices.”
Matthew B Crawford, author of the New York Times bestselling book Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, will speak at the gala dinner opening the conference. Other speakers throughout the three-day event include Roger Fisher, Maryellen Weimer, Rupert MacLean, Eric Chester, Mark David Milliron, Brian Little, Bill Lucas and Guy Claxton. Other educational leaders will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Peninsula
