Renewed growth in the Middle East’s logistics sector has the region facing a major challenge in the recruitment and retention of skilled supply chain talent. According to a report from consultants B2G, the current provision of corporate training and educational programmes in the region is failing to reduce the skills shortage in the industry.

The State of Supply Chain Education in the Middle East report estimates that the industry will require more than 700,000 professionals in the GCC countries by the end of the year, including 1500 new supply chain managers. But with only 40% of the required number of students with a specialisation in supply chain management entering the market each year, the region’s logistics industry is clearly in danger of falling short of having enough qualified personnel to man its fast-recovering growth.

In an attempt to address this challenge, educational establishments offering some type of logistics qualification have been growing steadily in both number and quality in the region. “There is definitely more choice of training and education providers in logistics, transport and supply chain management,” says Alex Borg, executive director and regional co-ordinator (UAE and GCC region) at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT). “This is good news for the industry overall because competition between the institutions will raise the quality of training in terms of course content and trainers.”

CILT itself is an awarding body in logistics, transport and supply chain management, and many of the colleges and universities in the region now offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses which endorse CILT’s programmes. But, Borg says that as well as meeting the need academically there is a growing trend in training education providers in the region to build direct links with the industry. “They have had no option but to stay relevant to the industry and market needs and adopt a ‘think global and act local’ approach,” he says.

The fact is that the bridging between academia and industry has long been a contentious issue when it comes to logistics training. “It is often commented that universities provide a graduate with an academic understanding of industry but not necessarily the practical experience needed to be an effective employee from the beginning of his or her employment,” says John Webb, project manager at the Maritime Institute, at the School of Logistics and Maritime Studies, Bahrain Polytechnic. “But our logistics qualification produces a graduate that has been both academically and industry-immersed and would be able to enter employment without needing an in-depth induction or an additional training programme.”

The four year Bachelor of International Logistics Management has been specifically designed around the opportunities and challenges of Bahrain, and the wider Middle East logistics industry. “Our goal is to produce ‘work-ready’ graduates who have been immersed in the logistics industry through work placements,” says Webb. “This gives students an understanding of the industry as well as direct connections between their academic development and industry practice.”

Bahrain’s own government has prioritised the development of the country as a fully functioning and internationally renowned logistics hub, and this push promises to further bolster the reputation of the logistics-based degree. “The popularity of the degree has evolved alongside a growing awareness of the logistics industry in Bahrain and the potential for growth and the potential for career employment within the industry.” 

As the programme director for the Master of Science in Logistics degree at Dubai’s University of Wollongong (UOWD), Dr. Balan Sundarakani, associate professor at the Faculty of Business and Management, has also witnessed course registration grow in popularity with both new students and those already in the logistics field. “Generally there is a gap between the courses offered at university and real-life industry work experience,” he says. “But at UOWD we constantly encourage our academics to work closely with industry partners and regularly update their skills in line with industry requirements.”

The university offers a diverse range of courses on different aspects of logistics from supply chain management to procurement and inventory management. Graduates are also trained in supply chain technologies. “Our students get to understand current issues, emerging trends and the evolution of these concepts with local, regional and international case studies,” says Sundarakani. “The courses provide students with an understanding of supply chain theory and practice and its application in the real world.”

Others in the industry agree that a balance between theory and practice is clearly the way forward for the development of logistics education in the region. At the Dubai campus of Heriot-Watt University, Carrie Annabi, programme director for the MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management degree course, is actively involved in auditing employers’ requirements in this field and researching the delivery of logistics education to ensure that the course matches industry expectations. Her approach is clearly working, as, although degree has only been on offer for the past two years, applications have tripled over this period.

Like other educationalists, Annabi believes that this is all down to the desire of employers in the MENA region to recruit a highly-qualified employee. “Increasingly students already in the industry are opting to study with us on a part-time basis because they fully understand that experience alone will not get them the roles they are striving for,” she stresses. “In short, employers place a high value on their workforce having bona fide qualifications.”

But as only 50% of students on the course have had direct work experience within a traditional logistics field, the university has to work hard to maintain a high level of links with business and industry at all of its campuses. Annabi is calling on logistics employers who wish to develop internship options with the university. “One third of the world’s trade currently transits through the UAE and the global logistical and supply chain trends assure me that the demand will be huge for well-qualified employees within the industry,” she says. “This clearly suggests that the growth we experienced last year is not a spike but rather recognition of the need to provide the regional market with a quality platform for learning about logistics and supply chain management.”

But do the region’s leading logistics companies agree that an educational qualification is the answer to the skills shortage in the region? In general, it does appear that companies are slowly warming to the changing face of logistics education in the Middle East, although some concerns still remain. Lars Bergstrom, GAC’s group vice-president (Middle East) is somewhat skeptical about the current ‘limited’ availability of quality logistics education, and in particular the identifiable gap between the logistics taught at university type establishments and that experienced in the logistics industry itself.

As a leading shipping and logistics operator in the region, GAC’s management is heavily invested in up-skilling its employees through its own in-house training body, the GAC Corporate Academy. This offers a range of programmes in its four core business areas of shipping, logistics, marine and solutions. But Bergstrom still believes external logistics education can play an important role. “We believe higher education is valuable, but practical operational experience is equally important,” he says. “The gap between the two can however be bridged by developing closer ties and collaboration between universities and leading companies in the logistics industry – whether as speaking partners or guest lecturers or through professional internships.”

Frank Courtney, chief executive for EMEA business at Barloworld Logistics, has similar worries when it comes to the quality of logistics education in the Middle East. “People need to be careful when selecting an institution; many just offer a piece of paper and have little or no interest in ensuring understanding and real, practical knowledge transfer,” he says. “Ideally, organisations like ours are looking for a blend of the theoretical and the practical application of that knowledge in the real world.”

Like GAC, Barloworld takes the training of its staff very seriously. As well as the usual technical training to upgrade skills in specific areas, the firm is happy to encourage employees wishing to take further education courses which might be unfinished or could help them in the future. “More vocational work for students, and more companies opening up to allow students the opportunities to experience real business, will continuously add value to the individuals and the industry as a whole.”

With both educationalists and firms seeking a middle ground, perhaps the answer to the future of logistics education lies in specialist institutions that aim to provide just that. Based in the Saudi Arabia, the Middle East Logistics Institute (MELI) is one of the best established examples in the region.

With Saudi channeling US$100 billion of investment into transport and logistics projects over the next decade, the Kingdom is gunning to be one of the world’s leading transport and logistics hubs by 2020. As the fierce demand for logistics personnel grows, MELI has found demand for its courses has soared. Since 2010, the institute has developed strong partnerships with some of the leading logistics educational providers to deliver a variety of programmes to suit diverse training needs. “By adopting the ‘learning by doing’ methodology, we can assure that our graduates are equipped with the right tools to enable them to contribute to the success of their organisations,” explains Dr. Turhan Bilgili, project manager and senior instructor at MELI.

According to the institute’s own sector evaluations, the total number of employees engaged in logistics was projected to hit 124,000 by the end of last year. “But KSA vocational schools, colleges and universities are only graduating a tiny proportion of formally trained, degreed or certified employees qualified for those jobs per year,” says Bilgili. “We’ve identified a pretty staggering gap and this has been realised by our strategic plans to overcome such a shortage of qualified logistics employees.” He maintains that MELI’s practical and industry-based programmes will ensure the continuation of the “very high” employment rates enjoyed by its graduates. “In a broad range of logistics-related industries, employers are looking for versatile, talented staff competent in management as well as in the design, control and execution of logistics and supply chain systems.”




Logistics Middle East looks at some of the courses in the region.
HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY
Heriot-Watt University offers an MSc in Logistics and Supply Chain. This postgraduate
degree programme provides students with a well-rounded exposure to key issues within the industry, covering such areas as Freight (with an emphasis on maritime, due to the university’s geographical setting within MENA) and Green Logistics, in recognition of the global trend towards acknowledging the importance of this aspect within the supply chain interface.

WISDOM BUSINESS SCHOOL
Wisdom Business School (WBS) has officially launched the prestigious Logistics and Supply Chain Management programmes from CILT, UK. Professor Alan Waller OBE – CILT International President presented the accreditation to WBS for offering CILT international qualifications.

WBS offers an International Advanced Diploma in Logistics and Transport – Level 6 (equivalent to a Bachelor’s Degree) and Advanced Diploma in Logistics and Transport – Level 5 will be the major programmes offered along with other certificate courses.
World renowned professional qualification and certification from CILT will enhance the job opportunities, competence, management skills and demonstrate the personal abilities of the professionals working in the industry.
WBS is a division of Wisdom Education Group, now spread across the UAE, Oman, UK and India, and which mainly caters to MBA programmes, with more than 14 specialisations including Oil and Gas Management, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and Aviation Management.

It also provides visas for higher studies.

MELI
The Middle East Logistics Institute in Saudi Arabia provides training, short courses and internationally-certified courses in the area of supply chain and logistics.
Offers courses in conjunction with the Michigan State University (USA), Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, IoSCM (UK), and IRU (Sweden).

WOLLONGONG
The University of Wollongong in Dubai offers courses such as Supply Chain Management, Logistics Systems Management, Strategic Supply Chain, Procurement and Inventory Management, to provide students with a good understanding of supply chain theory and practice and its applications in the real world.

Graduates are also trained to apply supply chain technologies in some real world logistics applications through case study and industry related projects.

In the past three years the programmes offered in Wollongong has been accredited by professional societies such as CILT and CIPS.


Logistics Middle East gets the opinions of three industry experts during a recent conference in Dubai.

HOW CAN PEOPLE ADD VALUE TO THE COMPANY?
Nadia Abdul Aziz, MD of UNASCO: With all the commotion going with the economies, one of the main issues to look at is the needs of the employee instead of looking at your final customers. You need to make sure they feel secure in terms of jobs security, in terms of salary to cover their cost of living, and once they have that, you can work on giving them benefits that will achieve their higher needs and so they will be able to be more productive on a global or regional level.
Especially with what’s going on now a lot of employees don’t feel that there is job security and you can’t blame them. You can’t blame all the senior management either, because of the economy, sometimes it is inevitable to downsize or some companies may have to totally shut down.

In terms of the employer, they can have one employee and cross train him/her to do two jobs in order to cut down on costs, but make sure that you do the training properly in order to get the right productivity – I’ve tried it in certain areas and it is proven to be successful.

If the basic needs are not met, you’re less likely to have happy employees and then you’re less likely to have happy customers. You need to incorporate that into your vision and strategy.

DOWNSIZING WITHOUT DEMORALISATION?
Sean Bradley, managing partner, Revere Consulting: When you’re looking at downsizing there are various areas in which you can incentivise the existing staff, in terms of other things besides remuneration. For example the work environment: more open recognition in the workplace for individuals to feel more wanted; the scope and breadth of the job can be expanded so they get more responsibility for what they get paid - if there has been a certain amount of downsizing. And if downsizing has occurred, to have a very open and planned communication process so it’s not a hidden agenda, because that affects everybody, and that’s not what the intention is – it is so the company survives.

ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY AMONGST STAFF?
Alan Waller OBE, International President, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT): There is a wide responsibility to encourage people not to be afraid and foster ides for creativity.

If we look at ‘responding to change’, people who respond best are the business or individuals that don’t go into defence mode but into attack mode. If you look at the recession, the companies that did well are not those that closed the gates, it was those who opened the gates and looked outside. That requires a culture in the company that encourages risk rather than punishes failure. If you punish people for getting things wrong they will do nothing, and doing nothing is not an option! You will not get creativity development by doing nothing. So the culture of rewarding risk taking – which is quite difficult to do in many businesses – is one about making sure people make small mistakes and people share the work collaboratively, because then the probability of getting something wrong is reduced.

And making sure people are “t-shaped” not “i-shaped”: there’s an obligation on every manager in every business to make sure their people are broad and flexible. They should be able to respond to change individually.

If you have a broader base in which to work, you can actually jump from one skill base to another without jumping into a burning platform.