50 UAE national students enroll for DUBAL's 2007 annual summer training programme

A group of 50 students have enrolled for the two-month initiative, which will run from the first week of July till the end of August this year.

The programme forms part of DUBAL's continuing nationalization drive to improve understanding of the aluminum industry's workings amongst young UAE nationals. The participating students were selected from several educational institutions throughout the UAE, including various schools, Al Ain University, the Higher College of Technology and the American University of Sharjah. Among them, 30 are high school students and 20 are from various colleges and universities.

"This project is aligned with the vision of H.H Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, the UAE Finance & Industry Minister and Chairman of DUBAL, who considers the initiative to be a valuable means of improving individual UAE nationals' skills, as a way of accelerating the prosperity of the entire nation," said Mr. Ibrahim Nasser, General Manager, Human Resources and Organization Effectiveness, DUBAL. "We also will use the training programme to identify the students with the most potential. Many previous summer students currently hold senior positions within DUBAL, where 70 percent of executive management positions are currently held by UAE nationals. This year our target is to recruit 220 nationals."

The training programme began with an orientation session, where the students were given a comprehensive and in-depth assessment of DUBAL's major operations, including insight into its facilities. Over the course of the two-month period, the training programme will also include instruction on technical operations, as well as courses in administration. In addition, trainees will attend weekly two-hour lectures on various interpersonal subjects, such as leadership, motivation, administration, quality control and presentation skills.

Each of the 50 trainees has been assigned to one of DUBAL's various divisions, depending on their respective qualifications, educational standards and relevant skills. The students were very impressed with the arrangements at the opening and are excited at the prospect of benefiting from DUBAL's influential tutelage, albeit for a comparatively short period of time.