Work Placement Initiatives of Swiss International School in Dubai

by Swiss International Scientific School Swiss International Scientific Scho

Last year, Swiss International School in Dubai instituted our Work Placement Programme for the first time. The initiative was a great success, and our students were able to do real work at companies such as Arcadis, Mövenpick, and Winston & Strawn LLP. Unlike many “internships” where students barely do anything, our Grade 10 students performed research that was actually used, assisted with front office work, and helped company staff with whatever they needed.

Following the success of the programme, we’ve reinstated it for 2019, with yet another batch of Grade 10 students ready to get very real life working experience with a brand-new set of companies. Let’s look at what happened for 2019’s Work Placement Programme.

What is the purpose of the Work Placement Programme?

The Work Placement Programme is designed to connect our students with opportunities that can provide them with early real-life experience in the workplace. This has a fourfold purpose:

To help students better understand the kind of demands and requirements that the modern workplace will ask of them

To give students the opportunity to practice key soft skills such as critical thinking and creativity, which they’ll, need in order to thrive in the 21^st century workforce

To provide insight into students’ chosen fields, helping them determine the future of their careers

To motivate students to improve and develop a diverse skill set

The companies

Swiss International School in Dubai students were sent to five different companies – Givaudan, Blue Logic, German Bakery, Nestle, and AW Rostamani. Here are some of their experiences.

Givaudan

One of our partner companies was Swiss-based cosmetics, fragrance and flavouring manufacturer Givaudan. We sent our student Salah El-Danaf here, where he explored the fragrance and flavours departments at the company’s snack lab, beverages, and sweets areas. He was able to observe the manufacturing processes for the industry, performs market research, and even participated in testing, evaluating, and pricing of products.

At the end of his time in the Work Placement Programme, Salah gave a presentation on his time and experiences in the company, and took questions as well. His performance as a participant was well-received, with Givaudan HR manager Joe John saying, “Salah has shown a lot of maturity. He was at ease and confident. He would be a great asset to any company.”

Blue Logic

Another company was Blue Logic, a digital marketing and design agency. Our student Amr Lanjri was assigned here, where he ended up being their youngest intern at just 15 years of age. He was assigned to performing industry research on chatbots, which are becoming an increasingly popular way for brands to reach out to their audiences. He also performed intensive testing on company chatbots, using natural-language testing to ensure that they behaved normally and provided users with the information they need.

Bakers Kitchen

Five of our students were assigned to the German-owned café and bakery Bakers Kitchen. They assisted with tasks in the kitchen, preparing ingredients, organizing store displays, bussing tables, and serving customers. The owner, Sven, was very impressed with their work, saying, “It was a very nice experience, they were respectful and they have done their best to fulfill their training.”

Great Progress

For our second iteration of the programme, we were able to refine the processes that worked in the past and streamlined our interaction with the partner businesses. Our students were able to contribute more than ever, and we hope that they learned a lot from their stay at each business.

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Created on Jul 23rd 2019 05:12. Viewed 264 times.

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