Students celebrate success of leadership programme

Almost 300 university students are celebrating their success after completing Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and Maersk Oil Qatar’s experience-based leadership development programme, EBDA, to become Qatar’s future leaders. Representatives from Maersk Oil Qatar and HBKU attended a ceremony held recently at the HBKU Student Centre ballrooms to celebrate the students’ achievements and reward them for starting their leadership journey.EBDA is an experience-based leadership programme sponsored by Maersk Oil Qatar and aimed at university students in Qatar. The programme offers students the opportunity to become certified in leadership across three tiers - EBDA Bronze, EBDA Silver and EBDA Gold awards, depending on the number of activities completed during the course of their university careers. As students progress through the tiers, the complexity of their leadership training increases.During the ceremony, 44 students received awards for their completion of EBDA programmes. Two gold (for completing nine or more programmes), 13 silver (for completing 5-8 programmes) and 29 bronze awards (for completing at least three programmes) were presented at the ceremony. Al Nada al-Kubasi, a student from Texas A&M University at Qatar who received a Silver award, said: “I am extremely honoured to have received a Silver award as part of the EBDA programme this year. I have already discovered ways to apply my leadership skills at university and hopefully will be able to do the same very soon at work.” Sheikh Jassim bin Saud al-Thani, head of Qatarisation at Maersk Oil Qatar, said: “It was incredible to see so many bright and talented students at our first ever EBDA awards ceremony. I would like to congratulate all participating students who actively sought new challenges and perspectives in Qatar and beyond in order to develop as our next generation of leaders.”Since EBDA’s launch in September 2014, students from 30 nationalities have taken part in 10 activity-based programmes, ranging from team-building challenges in Qatar (LeaderShape and the EBDA Desert Challenge) to community service work in Indonesia and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which aim to equip them with skills to become exceptional leaders in the future. EBDA’s fourth and final international destination of the year will be Oman in May, where 30 students will embark on challenging outdoor experiences, led by Outward Bound Oman.Ameena Hussain, director of Student Life, HBKU, who attended the awards, said: “I’m immensely proud of every single one of our students for taking part in the EBDA programme in the midst of their studies, to gain the vital skills needed to develop them into Qatar’s finest future leaders.”