Maharat Med Project launches two new initiatives to provide students with better insights on the labour market

Maharat Med, a project to train students to be ready for future work and help them to start their own businesses has launched a package of activities since the beginning of the current year, including Maharat Universities and Maharat Awareness Sessions. Developed in line with the UfM flagship Mediterranean Initiative for Jobs (Med4Jobs), Maharat Med is an innovative program advancing youth employment in the Mediterranean countries of Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, and Morocco and is promoted by the non-profit organisation Business Development Center (BDC) Jordan. 

In partnership with universities around Jordan, “Maharat Universities” is implemented as a three-hour accredited undergraduate elective course and it focuses on soft skills and life skills that develop the students’ capacities in preparation for the labor market. The course is taught using the Maharat methodology, “Learning by Doing” and is conducted within an interactive business-like environment, providing the practical skills necessary for fresh graduates to land successful careers. The marketing of “Maharat Universities” was done through road shows inside the universities, where 3 road shows were conducted.  Since the beginning of 2020, Maharat universities were implemented in 3 universities: University of Jordan-JU, Princess Sumaya University of Technology-PSUT, Amman Ahliyya University-AAU, the courses were implanted in 16 sections in the three universities with the enrolment of 816 students. 

Maharat Awareness Sessions were conducted to provide the students with better insights about the labour market from real experiences, where those sessions were provided by mentors and practitioners with successful career paths in order to motivate the students from their real life expertise and experience.  

This year, 27 Maharat Awareness Sessions were conducted for 5,400 students in the universities on several topics like Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship behavior, Presentation skills, Time Management skills and Emotional Intelligence.  

Moreover, Maharat program strives to create a community which sustains the holistic approach it follows with its students through the Book club (an initiative that promotes reading), the CSR activities (an initiative that promotes social responsibility).  Since the beginning of 2020, 8 CSR activities were implemented with Maharat students. The CSR were much diversified, where the students visited an orphanage center, the students conducted occasional campaigns for orphans three times and the students distributed food and clothes supplies for vulnerable people in less fortunate areas of Jordan.