‘Women need innovative training for top business jobs’

Women need innovative and intensive training to compete for top jobs in the business world, said Chryso Christodoulou, founder of education provider FUNecole and co-founder of Digipro computer consultants.
Christodoulou was a key speaker earlier this week at the International Exhibition and Forum for Education (IEFE) in Riyadh.
She said the business environment of the 21st century places a premium on critical thinking, creative expression and cooperation in solving problems.
Professionalism means using knowledge in new ways, and excellence is the necessary standard for global competition. Successful companies require staff with exceptional skills, she said.
Successful professionals, whether they are men or women, need a “global thinking package” to cope with this “complex, interlaced and multicultural business environment,” said Christodoulou.
She admitted the fact that women has to work extra hard to gain entry into the business world and to get respect from their male counterparts.
She said that a businesswoman has to be cultivated, capable of creative thinking and work efficiently using information communication technology. She must also learn to balance her professional, personal and social responsibilities.
“To prepare the present and future generations for businesses that require high skills and good technological knowledge, schools and education programs have to shift away from traditional teaching models toward a more simplified and flexible approach, which stress comprehensive awareness, developing a civil sense, health skills and environmental knowledge,” Christodoulou said.
To connect education courses with the real business world, she said, FUNecole has created a “creative teaching environment” that delivers an “outstanding curriculum” recognized by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the European Commission and adopted by the Cambridge International Examination Board.
“FUNecole courses are designed to foster initiative, enhanced creativity and innovation in youngsters, and to teach its students to act collectively.”
Another speaker, Tia Loukkola, head of the quality management unit of the European University Association (EUA), talked about the need for transparency in assessing education performance. She said education has to be transformed “on all levels.”
“Based on our experience in the EUA, I would say that the simplest way to assure the effectiveness of the evaluations in terms of promoting a culture of quality, will be to involve the subjects in planning the evaluation, both in terms of the methodology and criteria. This will promote a commitment to and ownership of the process, thus facilitating the acceptance of potential feedback at the end of the process.”
“Another important factor is to be transparent about the evaluation criteria, methods and purpose. This will certainly help in avoiding misunderstandings and objections.”
“In our experience, at least in European higher education, adopting ready-made quality assurance system models used in other areas of society is rather rare. However, this does not necessarily mean that none of the elements of these systems are present in the higher education sector.”
She said higher education remains an important part of the education system to produce a competent and highly educated workforce, which are key elements in any globally competitive, knowledge-based society.
“This is for instance the case in Europe. But I do not see as being something that reduces the importance and the role of general education, such as primary or secondary schools. In fact, these different levels of the education system should be developed together.
The research shows that the success of a pupil at secondary school influences very much his or her future education. I once heard one university president with a strong record in working with so-called non-traditional students — mature students and those coming from non-privileged backgrounds — talk about the importance of investing in schools.”
“According to him, it is in school that the most important part of the quality assurance for higher education happens. While he was exaggerating to make a point, I tend to agree with him. We do need to invest in a balanced manner in all levels.”