Applications for Qatar Leadership Centre’s (QLC) 2020-2021 National Leadership Programmes are now open, it has been announced.
This provides an opportunity for accomplished Qatari leaders working in the public, private and government sectors to enhance their leadership capabilities and supplement Qatar’s rapid development, QLC has said in a statement.
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani founded QLC in 2010, envisioning a hub and a national platform of leadership development and excellence that would support future and present Qatari leadership in improving their own capabilities as well as the people around them.
“Under the leadership of HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar Leadership Centre has been continuously striving to develop a strict selection criteria to ensure diversity in the participants’ specialist competencies and backgrounds. This promotes the learning and sharing process outside of the leadership programmes,” said Sheikh Dr Abdulla bin Ali al-Thani, board member and managing director of QLC. 
“Since our founding at the turn of this decade, the centre has built itself a young but proud history of empowering Qatari leaders to fulfil their potential, all of whom are making a real impact at various tiers of management in prominent organisations in the country. And, in the upcoming National Leadership Programmes 2020-2021, we look to build on this legacy, alongside our valued partners, and enrich the capabilities of new participants to ultimately serve the country.”
The centre offers three world-class National Leadership Programmes – Rising Leaders, Executive Leaders and Government Leaders, the statement notes. The multi-modular programmes operate were developed by esteemed educational institutions, including University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, HEC Paris, Harvard University, Georgetown University, Duke University, University of Chicago and Civil Service College Singapore as well as the International Advisory Group, Profiles International and Al Jazeera Media Institute. 
Due to the in-depth nature of these programmes, participants are required to dedicate three to five days a month throughout the academic year.
Notably, the programmes provide comprehensive curricula that cover a variety of subjects including strategic corporate policymaking, crisis leadership, financial management, negotiation and persuasion skills as well as communication, branding, and positioning in competitive markets. To bolster the knowledge they have gained through these programmes, participants meet with influential leaders in Qatar, the region and throughout the world to gain insights formed in the highest-level boardrooms and offices in the public, private and government sectors. 
Moreover, the programmes incorporate their own annual week-long Learning Journey into the curriculum, taking participants to meet leading executives and experts in important markets, such as Sweden, Japan, Singapore, the US and others, to learn from their experience at the head of some of the world’s most foremost organisations.
While QLC’s National Leadership Programmes are offered for only Qataris professionals who meet the rigorous standards for admission, the qualifying requirements of each of the three programmes is unique and can be accessed online on the centre’s official website.
Enrolment is to be determined through a stringent evaluation process running from this month until January 2020, where candidates will be assessed based on their work experience and academic background. After the initial online application period, which will conclude on September 22, candidates will then be evaluated through a series of standards that are based on leadership qualities, including psychometric testing, assessment centre as well as panel interviews with top experts and leaders representing different sectors. 
Therefore, the final selected group of applicants that will begin National Leadership Programmes 2020-2021 in March 2020 will represent a highly qualified group of individuals that embody strong personal initiative, deep intellectual curiosity and a desire to improve themselves, which would make a positive impact in their workplace and contribute to Qatar National Vision 2030, the statement adds.
QLC boasts of an alumni community of more than 600 business and government leaders, who continue to guide and shape the country’s development informed by the specialist knowledge they have obtained through the National Leadership Programmes.
To learn more about QLC, and to apply to one of the centre’s three National Leadership Programmes, one can visit www.qlc.org.qa
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