More than 30 students from throughout Education City experienced a unique learning journey during the second edition of the Future Leaders Academy, designed to help aspiring leaders unleash their potential and introduce them to essential leadership and management skills.
Organised by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq), a Qatar Foundation (QF) partner university, the Future Leaders Academy was presented in collaboration with academic and industry stakeholders and gave students from various Education City universities an opportunity to explore principles of core leadership elements, including strategic thinking, organisational entrepreneurship, financial management and project management.
The programme included modules on Principles of Strategy led by HEC Paris in Qatar, Managing Financial Resources by McKinsey & Company, Innovation & Entrepreneurship by Ericsson and TASMU, and Project Management by Tafawoq – Qatar Shell.
Students also had an opportunity to network and interact with industry representatives.
Joshua Kobb, executive director of Partnerships and Growth at HEC Paris in Qatar, said: “We were pleased to deliver the Principles of Strategy module for the Future Leaders Academy (FLA) programme and show our support for Qatar Foundation’s multiversity project.”
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“At HEC Paris, we have outstanding expertise in developing strategic thinking among future public and private sector leaders,” he explained. “To think strategically is vitally important for today’s and tomorrow’s leaders, as it assists them in navigating unknown situations and developing skills to continuously learn, evolve and make decisions that enable organisations to push forward even in the face of setbacks or intense competition.”
Elissa Meflih, a senior at Northwestern University in Qatar who participated in the programme, said: “Being a part of the Future Leaders Academy at Texas A&M University at Qatar this year has been a very enlightening experience.”
“Over the course of a week, we were joined by several esteemed industry experts from organisations such as HEC Paris and McKinsey & Company, who shared a lot of key insights on project management, finance management, entrepreneurship, teamwork and leadership,” she said. “I highly encourage individuals to take part in future editions of the programme as the knowledge they will accumulate is immense and insightful.”
Fellow participant Mohamed Tahri-Sqalli from Hamad Bin Khalifa University said: “It was honestly a very well put, intensive and compelling programme. It was interesting to meet students from other QF universities, and to work alongside each other, while being mentored by industry experts.”
“I would like to express my gratitude to the organisers and facilitators of this programme,” he added.
CTL Programme manager Lana El Ladki said that opportunities such as the Future Leaders Academy empower students to enhance their skills beyond the classroom.
“Future Leaders Academy is an example of the unique learning experiences we aim to offer to our students through the CTL’s engineering enrichment program,e,” she said. “Through such programmes, we aim to support students explore engineering beyond academics, acquire and hone practical skills which will allow them in thrive in the workplace, and to build last connections with representatives from the industry.”
This year, the CTL launched digital credentials for the participants.
At the end of the programme, participants received a digital badge which validates that the student has successfully completed the Future Leadership Academy programme, and expounds on the skills and knowledge acquired.
“It is great to see students from QF’s community gathered at Texas A&M at Qatar to exchange experiences, enrich their knowledge, work collaboratively on real-world case studies, and discuss new trends in an evolving working environment,” said El Ladki.
The Centre for Teaching and Learning continuously engages industry and governmental entities to leverage their expertise for offering programmes that enrich technical and leadership skills of students and provide them with high-impact multidisciplinary learning opportunities beyond their core engineering curriculum.
