“I thought I might benefit from learning a little bit more about the business environment, but I didn’t have very high expectations about the workshops themselves,” El Saadany says. It turned out his expectations were to be exceeded by far. In the end, El Saadany took part in half a dozen different Mitacs Step skills development workshops.
What sets the Step workshops apart, El Saadany thinks, is first and foremost the quality and professionalism of the presenters. However, the content has also proven very useful to him.
“Learning how to present yourself – in person or on paper – or about networking, about public speaking, about business etiquette – which is very useful, especially to international students who come from a different culture – these are all things you don’t necessarily get to learn through the course of science or engineering studies,” El Saadany notes.
“We may tend to think graduate studies are all about academic papers and degrees, but there are so many other things we need to learn that we are not aware of. You won’t know how much you’re missing as long as you haven’t attended Mitacs’ Step workshops.”
Mitacs thanks the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario for their support of the STEP workshop in this story. Across Canada, the STEP program also receives support from Alberta Innovates, the Government of British Columbia, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Prince Edward Island, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan and Research Manitoba.
Do you have a business challenge that could benefit from a research solution? If so, contact Mitacs today to discuss partnership opportunities: BD@mitacs.ca
Mitacs
Mitacs empowers Canadian innovation through effective partnerships that deliver solutions to our most pressing problems. By driving economic growth and productivity, we create meaningful change to improve quality of life for all Canadians.
