Oman’s Future SkillsInitiativeAn Initiative of theSupreme Council for Planningin partnership withThe World Economic Forum

مهاراتالمستقبل

لُعمانOMAN’S FUTURE SKILLS

"As a millennial, my experience with 'Oman's Future Skills' was an engaging and energetic experience. The opportunity to discuss and brainstorm solutions for the skills needed in a digitalized economy has given us the confidence to play an active role in Oman's future."

Said Al HariziBachelor’s in Chemical EngineeringHigher College of Technology

Task force

HE Dr. Ali Al SunaidyMinister of Commerce and Industryand Deputy Chairman forThe Supreme Council for Planning

Dr. Hamood Al HarthyUndersecretary, Ministry of Education

H.E. Dr. Mona Al JardaniUndersecretary, Vocational Training, Ministry of Manpower

Dr. Khalifa Al BarwaniUndersecretary, National Center for Statisticsand Information

Dr. Ali Qassim JawadUndersecretary, Studies and Research - Diwan

Dr. Said Al RubaeiSecretary General, Education Council

Sharifa TahirCEO, National Training Fund

Talal Al MamariCEO, Omantel

Sayyida Rawan Al SaidChairperson, National Bank of Oman andCEO, Takaful Oman

Sheikh Waleed Al HasharCEO, Bank Muscat

Musab Al MahruqiCEO, Oman Oil and ORPIC Group

Pankaj KhimjiCEO, Khimji Ramdas

Abdulaziz M. Al BalushiCEO, OMNIVEST

Claudia MasseiCEO, Siemens

Omar Al WahaibiCEO, Al Nama Group

HE Dr. Abdullah Al SarmiUndersecretary, Ministry of Higher Education.

OverviewFew topics have preoccupied the public sector and private sector

employers more in recent years than the perceived widening gulf

between the knowledge, skills and abilities of young people

entering the workforce and the knowledge, skills and abilities that

employers believe to be crucial to the success of their enterprises.

The general consensus among employers globally is that too many

graduates lack critical-thinking skills and the ability to

communicate e�ectively, solve problems creatively, work

collaboratively and adapt to changing priorities. In addition to

these “soft skill” deficits, employers are also finding that young

people lack the technical, or “hard”, skills associated with

disruptive technologies such as AI, robotics, IoT and blockchain,

which are rapidly transforming economic structures, businesses

models, economies and consequently jobs.

As part of ongoing and measured e�orts to address this challenge,

the Government of the Sultanate of Oman has developed

ambitious plans for economic competitiveness, based on the

fundamental principle of sustainability through a diversified,

knowledge-based economy.

Essential to these plans is a human capital optimisation roadmap,

a policy which charts investments in the skilling of the workforce,

that provides economic returns to both individuals and economies

through productive employment, for men and women.

Oman’s Future Skills - an Initiative of the Supreme Councilfor Planning in partnership with The World Economic Forum.

The World Economic Forum brings expertise from

business, government, civil society, and the education

and training sectors at a global level to address the

skills gaps in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the Middle

East and North Africa, and the United States.

Their global initiative supports a lifelong learning

approach to developing the foundational, technical and

employability skills required for a future-ready

workforce. As a partner, the Forum provides a neutral

platform for showcasing Oman as an example of

success by o�ering the chance to:

Position Oman as a trailblazer of collaborative action

to close the skills gap and prepare the workforce of

the future;

Boost the visibility of involved individuals as thought

and action leaders and experts; and

Gain access to global media and other dissemination

channels to showcase the task force and its impact.

WEF Partnership

Global Alliance & Country Task Force MAP

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Country (Oman)

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Leveraging ofForum relationships

Engagement of leadersand key stakeholders

Provide baselinediagnostic

Platform todrive growthin key sectors

Leverage localrelationships tocatalyze action

Forum brand, eventsand media platform

Strategic directionand input

Project tools, inc.survey and toolkit

Knowledge,insights and data

BackgroundAs per the directives of the Diwan of Royal Court, The

Supreme Council for Planning (SCP) was requested to

carry out ‘Oman’s Future of Skills Initiative’ as the

authority mandated to develop the strategies and

policies that are required to achieve sustainable

development in the Sultanate of Oman.

The SCP recognises the importance of education, skills

and training in aligning the needs of the workforce with

the expectations of public- and private-sector

employers. As such, the SCP has placed a renewed

focus on these three sectors collaborating, in order to

achieve its objectives under the 9th five-year plan as

well as those set out in the nation's transformational

strategy, Vision 2040.

The announcement took place at the 2019 World

Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos,

Switzerland, which was inaugurated with a signing

ceremony led by the Chairman of the initiative, His

Excellency Dr. Ali Bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Minister of

Commerce and Industry and Deputy Chairman of the

Supreme Council of Planning, and Ms Saadia Zahidi,

Managing Director and Head of the WEF’s Centre for

the New Economy and Society.

The launch took place during a roundtable discussion

to advance the global Closing the Skills Gap dialogue

under the Annual Meeting’s theme, Globalization 4.0:

Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth

Industrial Revolution (4IR).

His Excellency Dr. Al Sunaidy and Ms Saadia Zahidi during the signing ceremony at Davos ‘19

Oman’s Future Skills - an Initiative of the Supreme Councilfor Planning in partnership with The World Economic Forum.

Task Force Meeting, W Hotel, MuscatOctober, 2019

ObjectivesO�cially described as the Oman-World Economic Forum

Partnership to facilitate Public-Private collaboration for the

‘Future of Skills’, the initiative aims to better anticipate how global

economic megatrends, such as the Internet of Things, artificial

intelligence, big data, deep learning, blockchain and other such

technological advances that characterise the 4th Industrial

Revolution will transform what skills are required from the local

workforce, with a focus on increasing work-readiness and critical

skills among the future workforce, as well as strengthening “soft”

skills among youth. This collaboration aims to Increase

work-readiness and critical skills among the future workforce by:

Strengthen “soft” skills among children and youth

(e.g. adaptability, creativity, communication,

teamwork, etc.)

Enhance basic digital know-how among

children and youth (e.g. basic coding, media literacy, interpreting

data, etc.); and

Improve relevant job-specific skills

(e.g. technical and industry- or

job-specific skills).

MethodologyOman’s Future Skills initiative will identify the

bundles of skills, abilities, and knowledge that are

most likely to be important in the future, as well as

the skills investments that will have the greatest

impact on occupational demand. The initiative will

compile information that educators, businesses, and

governments can use for strategic and policymaking

purposes to better prepare human capital for the

future, through a three-step process.

Designing Future Skills Framework for Oman by:

reviewing international best practice, validating

with international experts, testing it with Omani

experts, and creating a bespoke framework

tailored to Oman’s context, needs and strategy

objectives.

Creating a whole-of-government approach

(where government agencies work across

portfolio boundaries with all public, private and

not-for-profit sectors to achieve closing the skills

gap) through mutually beneficial incentive

schemes.

Facilitating Public Private Initiatives (PPIs) for

skilling programmes by the private sector in the

form of partnerships, apprenticeship systems,

coordination of curricula, career guidance, joint

research projects, and other such areas of

potential collaboration between industry and

academia.

Public-private initiatives (PPIs) are joint

undertakings by private employers and individual

government agencies, or multiple government

agencies under a whole-of-government

approach, as suitable, aimed at narrowing the

skills gaps.

GOVERNANCE & SCOPE1

ANALYTICS & STRATEGY2

IMPLEMENTATION3

TRANSITION & EVALUATE4

Project implementation methodology

Public Private Initiative criteria Future Skills: Help to directly, or indirectly, develop

the priority future skills for Oman.

Multi-stakeholder: Requires input from multiple

public, private and education stakeholders in Oman.

Implementable: Be able to design and implement in

the short term (6-12 months).

Impact: Be able to have measurable impact in the

short term (i.e. 6-12 months post implementation).

Relevance: Be relevant to local needs and build on

what has already been done.

Funding: Does not require extensive public-sector

funding to be realised.

Scalable: More employers can sign up as the PPI

develops. Can become institutionalised over time.

Pilot SessionSector-Table Discussion – Manufacturing

Under the umbrella of Oman’s Future Skills Initiative, the

initiative o�ce at SCP facilitated the first of a series of

public-private-sector round-table discussions. The

meeting took place with leading industrialists

representing electronics, transportation, food

production, metal manufacturing and petroleum.

Throughout the discussion, the high-level executives

shared their expertise and insights into the future of

manufacturing along with areas of collaboration and

reform. As manufacturers globally adopt new business

models built on data analytics, robotics, cyber-physical

systems and cloud computing, the skills and capabilities

needed require confidence to work alongside new

technologies and thrive in a digitalised workplace.

The executives represented a keen private sector that

saw great value in collaboration in three key areas: skills

development, fostering the ecosystem and expert

advisory.

Manufacturing sector round-table discussion, Madayan (Public Establishment for Industrial Estates)

Public Private Discussions, Task Force MeetingW Hotel, Muscat

The participants during a discussion at the youth focus group workshop

The participants during a discussion at the youth focus group workshop

Youth Focus Groups

The Initiative conducted Youth Focus Group workshops

in Salalah and Muscat, to explore and test the ‘future

skills framework’ with the generation that will be

leading the forth industry revolution (4IR).

The workshops were attended by 15 to 26-year-old

participants, which included a mix of jobseekers,

students and employed Omanis. Ensuring that the

youth are active participants is essential to the success

of the initiative, as part of ongoing e�orts to develop

the key skills needed to realise the Government’s

ambitious plans for economic competitiveness, based

on the fundamental principle of increasing productivity.

At the workshops, participants shared their

experiences, brainstormed their approach to skills

development and provided insights and scenarios into

what it means to them to master their soft and hard

skills to succeed in a digitalised economy. The points

emphasised from the workshop included:

Solutions to be executed should encompass the

interests of young Omanis, motivating them to gain

more skills, with the support from the government,

the private sector and society as a whole.

A more formalised process of youth participation and

further coordination and cooperation between the

government, private sector and the education sector

on their behalf.

Further coordination and cooperation between the

private sector and job applicants should take place

with a mandatory feedback loop.

For more information, please contact:

Oman’s Future Skills

skills@scp.gov.omeman@scp.gov.om

“Robots should not be seen as replacement of humans but tools to extend our capability and improve our productivity beyond our limits”

Mohammed Al JashmiBA in Mechanical Engineering, MIT.

www.futureskills.om

Partners

لمزيد من المعلومات، يمكن التواصل مع:

مبادرة مهارات المستقبل لُعمان

skills@scp.gov.omeman@scp.gov.om

www.futureskills.om

"ال يجب أن نرى ا�الت الذكية كبدائل للبشر بل على أنها وسائل تمكننا من توسيع قدراتنا وتحسين إنتاجنا"

محمد الجشمي،بكالوريوس في الهندسة الميكانيكية، جامعة ماساتشوستس

الشركاء