Dubai Knowledge Village (DKV) is hosting the 11th edition of its bi-annual ‘Training Open Week’; the premier three-day event dedicated to professional and intellectual development as part of its committment to empowering national workforce.

Running from May 18 to 20, more than 500 participants will descend on DKV to take part in one of the 28 interactive workshops on offer.

The 'DKV Training Open Week' will boast of a multitude of seminars and workshops by expert speakers from leading global training and HR consultancies. The event is one of DKV’s initiatives to bridge the skills gap in the workforce between industry and academia.

The workshops lined up cover diverse segments, including HR, marketing, sales, project management, strategy, leadership and IT. A special emphasis on SMEs will be given in this edition of the event, which will also provide an accurate representation of current industry trends.

According to the Workforce Planning Study, launched by Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) and conducted by Deloitte, Dubai is strongly perceived as a training hub with 62 per cent of corporates surveyed identifying Dubai as “Good” or “Excellent” in the area of Vocational Education Training (VET).

The study identified that at least 56 per cent of corporates interviewed opt to outsource their training programmes with a strong preference for local (38 per cent) and regional (44 per cent) training options. While training for junior/entry level is conducted in the country of operation; at mid and senior levels, a significant proportion of training takes place overseas.

Dr Ayoub Kazim, the managing director of DIAC and DKV said: "Vocational education and training is necessary to equip the workforce with specific skills required for respective sectors, and is in fact in a burgeoning stage in the region. While large corporates are increasingly taking on the role of setting up in-house academic training centres, smaller, and even some large companies require the services of professional training and human capital consultants."

"DKV’s Training Open Week offers those government and business entities a platform to fulfil their training needs, with an overview of the current trends across industries. It serves as a regular forum of interaction to benefit from stronger links between higher education and VET," he added.-TradeArabia News Service