Saudi Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme to Develop Future Leaders in Saudi Arabia
Monday, 22 February 2010 | University News
Today 45 participants from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will start on the Saudi Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme (SOAMLP) at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, UK. A joint initiative between Saïd Business School, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), Rakisa Education and the North Development Program (NDP), the SOAMLP is aimed at developing public and private sector leaders to enhance Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness for the overall benefit of Saudi society.
The Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme (OAMLP) is a flagship executive programme of the Business School. Since its inception in 1983, it has attracted more than 1100 senior executives from over 80 countries worldwide. In 2009 the School launched the programme in Saudi Arabia, successfully delivering a programme customised by the faculty to focus on issues and challenges faced by Saudi leaders and their organisations.
The SOAMLP is one of six national initiatives of strategic importance implemented by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Agency in Saudi Arabia to promote learning, entrepreneurship and innovation, and bring Saudi Arabia’s economy to the forefront of competitiveness.
Dr Lalit Johri, Programme Director for the SOAMLP, said: ‘We are delighted to partner with SAGIA and NDP in this strategic initiative. We believe that educating talented senior Saudi executives on the SOAMLP will not only improve the performance of their organisations but will also have a positive impact on the economy and make a big difference to the lives of Saudis.’
The SOAMLP will comprise four modules delivered over four weeks; three in Oxford, UK and one in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The modules will address ‘Global and Saudi Challenges and Insights’, ‘Organisational Challenges and Choices’ and ‘Your leadership journey – past, present and future’. The fourth module examines the participants’ ‘Contribution to the Competitiveness of the Saudi Economy’ and reflects on the role each participant will play in managing the socio-economic challenges in the Saudi economy. The programme will be led and facilitated by experienced international faculty from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, CEOs and Ministers from the UK and Saudi Arabia. The programme follows the University’s well-known tutorial tradition, in which individuals receive personal coaching from tutors and experts.
During the eight-week period between Modules 3 and 4, teams of participants will conduct fieldwork and design innovative strategies for developing the competitiveness of strategically important areas in the Saudi economy, such as education, employment, non-oil based industries, the environment, talent development, local regional development, and health. The teams will then present their recommendations to the key policy makers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The SOAMLP provides a compelling forum to share views on how external and internal pressures affect executives and their organisations. In an intellectually stimulating environment, participants will discuss key global and Saudi trends and how these are shaping the competitive landscape, examine the strategic tools required by organisations to enhance competitiveness, and take time to reflect on their executive experiences and skills, helping them to make a difference to their organisation and the Kingdom.
HE Amr Abdullah Al-Dabbagh, Governor of SAGIA, said: ‘SAGIA supports this programme which reflects the Kingdom’s strategic vision to support the competitiveness of its human resources and the development of private and public sector leaders, especially with investment in human development acting as a cornerstone in our nation’s development and prosperity.’ He continued: ‘We at the National Competitive Center share the same vision with the Northern Development Program of long term cooperation to improve Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness.’ He pointed out that the programme will instill business values, methodologies and application strategies that managers and businessmen can use to help them move the Saudi economy and society to a higher level.
Whilst in Oxford, the participants will have opportunities to interact with thinkers and experts from the broader University of Oxford, including the James Martin 21st Century School and the Middle East Centre, and with the top management teams from organisations in the region.
About Saïd Business School
Established in 1996 the Saïd Business School is one of Europe’s youngest and most entrepreneurial business schools with a reputation for innovative business education. An integral part of Oxford University, the School embodies the academic rigour and forward thinking that has made Oxford a world leader in education. The School has an established reputation for research in a wide range of areas, including finance and accounting, organisational analysis, international management, strategy and operations management. The School is dedicated to developing a new generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs and conducting research not only into the nature of business, but the connections between business and the wider world. In the Financial Times ranking of MBA programmes (Jan 10) Saïd is ranked 16th in the world. It is ranked in BusinessWeek’s top 10 business schools outside the USA (Nov 08) and in the Wall Street Journal it is ranked in the top 25 business schools in the world (Nov 07). In the UK university league tables it has ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business for the past six years in The Guardian and in seven of the last eight years in The Times.
For more information, see www.sbs.ox.ac.uk
About the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA)
SAGIA, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, was established in 2000 as part of the new foreign investment law in Saudi Arabia. Its purpose is to attract investment to Saudi Arabia and more recently its mandate has evolved to encompass the enhancement of the Kingdom’s overall competitiveness. SAGIA plans to attract sufficient investment to achieve rapid and sustainable economic growth in Saudi Arabia, capitalising on the Kingdom’s competitive strengths as the global capital of energy and as a major hub between East and West. It aims to position Saudi Arabia among the top ten most competitive nations by 2010 through the creation of a pro-business environment, a knowledge-based society, and by developing new, world class ‘Economic Cities’. To help boost competitiveness, SAGIA established the National Competitiveness Center (NCC) in 2006 to act as an independent body to monitor, assess and support the development of competitiveness in Saudi Arabia.
For more information about SAGIA visit www.sagia.gov.sa
About Rakisa Education
‘RAKISA Education’ – a wholly owned subsidiary of ‘RAKISA Holdings’ – specialising in the field of education and investments in knowledge-based industries has the aim to create unique added value educational initiatives, research, higher education and training programmes to contribute in enhancing the human resources development and competitiveness in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. RAKISA Education established strong partnerships and collaborations with world prominent educational institutions locally and globally.
About the Northern Development Programme
The North Development Program is an NGO Trust and integrative association initiative between the private and public sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aiming to contribute in raising the human resource competitiveness in order to upgrade the performance and strengthen the values of occupation, professionalism, leadership, and the effective contribution in local development by investing in educational economic tools, research, development, research chairs in universities, academic initiatives, rehabilitation, training, developing initiative and contributing in raising leadership competitiveness in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by strengthening and equipping networks of Saudi leaders with advanced leadership skills through innovative custom programmes provided by world leading educational institutions. These programmes and initiatives come from the social responsibility and meet the needs of society especially those associated with the urgent challenges of local development.
About Executive Education at Saïd Business School
Executive Education at Saïd Business School draws on thought leadership from the entire resource base of Oxford University, as well as the Business School, to offer executive development that both inspires individuals and creates signifi cant business impact. Ambitious leaders and organisations benefi t from the challenge of working with world experts to mine rich insights into the complex realities of global management, and to envisage and anticipate the future. Rising in the Financial Times international ranking of Executive Education programmes, Saïd Business School’s programmes for clients such as Telefonica, BMW Group and Standard Chartered lead to lasting change at both the organisational and individual level. And with a fastgrowing, forward-facing portfolio of pioneering leadership and practitioner programmes, such as The Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme [celebrating its 28th year in 2010], Diploma in Financial Strategy, and The Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme, it supports and inspires the business leaders of today and tomorrow.
For more information, see: www.sbs.oxford.edu/execed
