Participants during a session of the Career Counselor Training Program held virtually.
Doha: The US Embassy in Qatar, together with the Qatar’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC) — a member of Qatar Foundation — held the virtual sixth Annual Career Counselor Training Program recently. Over 124 academic counsellors from more than 40 private schools and 60 public schools participated in the training.
Local expert school counsellors, including Annemiek Bailey, International School London-Qatar; Lisa Abidaoud, Qatar Academy for Science and Technology; and Dr. Aaron Jones, American School of Doha, led sessions in English for the private schools.
The first day included topics about the Qatari National Scholarship programme, college planning timelines, and data collection. The second day covered the Qatar National Service requirement, college application essay writing, and best practices in virtual school counselling.
On the third and fourth days, EducationUSA Senior Adviser Dana Saleh led sessions in Arabic for the Ministry of Education public schools.
The third day’s topics included a glossary of terms, components of a college application, application planning timelines, and virtual resources for students and counsellors. On the final day, participants learned about virtual group advising, parent engagement, and virtual advising technology.
First Lieutenant Jasim Jaber Al Jaber, Public Relations Manager at the National Service Academy, Miqdam Camp, and Neamat Al Fayez, Student Counseling Consultant at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, gave informative presentations about Qatar’s National Service requirement and the Qatar Ministry of Education and Higher Education Scholarship programme.
Ministry of Education and Higher Education's Educational Consultant Fady Allaham thanked the Education USA and QCDC teams for helping set up the training. “Our primary goal was to increase the counsellors’ understanding of how to engage virtually with their students due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. Abdulla Al Mansoori, from QCDC, said, “Career counsellors play a key role in shaping the path forward for Qatar’s youth and consequently molding the future of Qatar and its economic and human development.”
Commenting on the success of the event, EducationUSA Regional Educational Advising Coordinator, Melissa Deschamps, said, “I have been fortunate to help with these sessions during the past few years and was thrilled to see that the virtual edition had the highest participation numbers to date.”
US Embassy Cultural Affairs Specialist Aseel Al Ugaili said, “I am honoured to be part of this training that has helped those counsellors express their needs and paved the way for further meetings to keep the discussion and exchange of ideas ongoing.”
