News

MENA Job Seekers Can Obtain Career Certificates & Scholarships From Google

For job seekers who only speak Arabic, Google has added 5 additional digital skills courses to help them acquire even more digital skills.

Published

3 years ago

August 21, 2021

Joanna Melki

Google

The tech industry has an insatiable appetite for skilled employees, and universities don’t produce nearly enough graduates to meet it. The result is a global talent shortage, which has recently reached a 15-year high, with 69% of employers globally struggling to find employees with the right blend of technical skills and human strengths.

Now, Google is offering to sponsor over 7,000 scholarships for its Career Certificates program in the Middle East and North Africa as part of the Grow Stronger with Google initiative.

The certificates included in the program are aimed at job seekers with no prior IT experience, and their goal is to help them cultivate the skills they need to find employment in the following four major fields: IT support, project management, UX design, and data analytics.

To reach a wide range of participants, several local organizations are helping to distribute the scholarships, including:

Amideast in Lebanon
Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and the Higher College of Technology in the UAE
Egyptian Banking Institution (EBI) and the University Center for Career Development (UCCD)
Gaza Sky Geeks in Palestine
General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM) and the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) in Saudi Arabia
The Agency for Digital Development (ADD) in Morocco

Google’s certificates can be obtained even without a scholarship through self-paced programs on Coursera.org. It’s then up to individual employers to recognize them.

Also Read: Mastercard Plans To Say Goodbye To Magnetic Stripes In 2024

For job seekers who only speak Arabic, Google has added five additional digital skills courses to Maharat min Google, helping them acquire even more digital skills needed to thrive in today’s digital world.

Google’s initiative is part of the global education trend of placing greater emphasis on practical skills and using modern digital tools to obtain them. This trend reflects the fact that traditional universities have limited capacity and have trouble keeping with the rapidly evolving needs of the tech industry.

News

NASA Forms New Partnership With Saudi Space Agency

The pair will collaborate on the Center for Space Futures, advancing space tech by bringing together public and private stakeholders.

Published

3 days ago

May 16, 2024

Nour Nasir

Saudi Space Agency

Saudi Arabia’s space industry is on the brink of substantial expansion after generating $400 million in revenue in 2022, according to a report by the Saudi Communications, Space and Technology Commission.

Now, in a new venture with NASA, plans for a “Center for Space Futures” are set to further drive the Kingdom’s aspirations of becoming a leading player in space exploration and technology.

Capturing moments from the joint delegation visit with leaders from the Saudi and American Space Agencies @NASA to @PSU_RUH, along with scenes showcasing the audience's engagement. pic.twitter.com/oB1cFTiRNl

— وكالة الفضاء السعودية (@saudispace) May 14, 2024

The partnership between NASA and Saudi Arabia goes beyond economic advantages. The pair have already cooperated on preliminary work for the Artemis II lunar mission, which is slated for a September 2025 launch and aims to land astronauts near the moon’s South Pole.

Also Read: Plans Underway For Massive Middle East Autonomous Freight Network

During a visit to the capital, Riyadh, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized in a TV interview the broader objectives of the collaboration, which encompass “returning to the moon and then [to] Mars” while utilizing space exploration to glean important insights into climate change. The NASA spokesman also reiterated the space agency’s dedication to collaborating with Saudi Arabia on other future ventures.