An enhanced academic counselling programme in the UAE has been launched by IC&E, the Organisers of GETEX, the Middle East’s premier education and training forum. Running from September 2005 to March 2006, the “Planning Higher Education vis-à-vis Career Objectives” programme will reach schools and individual students spread across 5 Emirates – Abu Dhabi (including Al Ain and other towns), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah and Sharjah.
“GETEX is not about simply inviting education providers to display their wares under one roof. Education is the cornerstone of any progressive society and as such it is imperative that we inform students and professionals of the options available to them. After a successful pilot project in the lead up to GETEX Dubai 2005, we have now enhanced the scope of this initiative to reach out as many students as possible, with a larger team of counsellors,” said Anselm Godinho, Managing Director, IC&E.
“The pilot project helped us gauge the extent of the need for counselling support - with school counsellors, school managements, students and parents responding enthusiastically to both the in-school sessions and the workshops organised at the GETEX venue. In this cycle of the programme, we will use in-school sessions, radio programmes and our new website to provide counselling support to students,” added Godinho.
The Pilot Project for “Planning Higher Education vis-à-vis Career Objectives” began with a team of three counsellors, one each for Academic Counselling, Life Choices Counselling and Career Counselling. In the current cycle, the programme has received support from five Academic Counsellors affiliated with Education Consultancy Services, Varsity Connections and International Placewell Consultants, each of these establishments being licensed to provide counselling services in the UAE. The Life Choices Counsellor, Bob Turner has over 30 years of global experience as a teacher, Senior Academic Management and working with individual students. He is also a licensed provider of counselling services to school managements in the UAE.
Under the scope of the programme, IC&E will organise a series of in-school sessions, which will provide students the tools to carry out systematic self-assessment, supported by parents and teachers. According to Bob Turner, Leader of the Counselling Team, this assessment must form a necessary first step towards helping a student determine one’s own talents, strengths and transferable skills, leading to an articulate decision on education options. Additionally, the sessions will cover diverse themes, including the importance of creating a personal portfolio during the school years; tools for exploring study options and careers; academic goal setting and achievements; as well as teacher, parental and peer group support in dealing with academic stress.
For students who cannot be reached through in-school sessions, the new GETEX website, www.mygetex.com will provide an important contact with the GETEX team of counsellors. Whereas, the website will make certain tools, including an educational timeline, available as free downloads; counsellors can be accessed through dedicated message boards for one on one counselling sessions. The counselling support is also free of charge.
The counsellors’ forum will also provide the larger community with an opportunity to form its own support groups, including those for high-school students dealing with exam stress; parent/teacher/peer-group support in handling homework, projects and other assignments; dedicated groups for teacher to teacher, parent to parent, parent-teacher, student-working professional discussions. Another, support group will aim to gather a resource bank for students, which the community can once again access for free. In phase two of the site development, www.mygetex.com will also provide students with an interactive journal to keep track of their academic timelines, including exam dates; applications due or sent; documents to attach to applications; et al.
In a significant move, popular student forum www.mashup.ae has agreed to partner with the new GETEX website to enhance the reach of this initiative within the student community. A micro-site within the larger Mash Up community will provide students with access to the GETEX resources.
Another tool for providing counselling support will be the radio. Starting September 7, every Wednesday afternoon, listeners can participate in interactive radio discussions on Radio 2 and Radio 4 FM stations, with each station hosting a GETEX counsellor on alternate Wednesdays. The weekly discussions will once again cover academic issues of concern to students, parents and teachers.
The outreach programme will also organise workshop sessions at GETEX Abu Dhabi, to be held from November 16 to 18, 2005 at the Abu Dhabi Beach Rotana and at GETEX Dubai, to be held from April 12 to 14, 2006 at Dubai World Trade Centre Complex. The workshop sessions organised at the GETEX venues will not repeat the in-school sessions, with actual workshop content depending on the requirements expressed by the schools and the community leading up to each show.
