2/19/09

The Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development (EAHR) at Texas A&M University recently established a new human resource development (HRD) program in the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain.

 The HRD certificate and master of science program in Bahrain is the result of collaboration between EAHR and the Golden Trust Institute and Consultancy.

Agreements to create the program were finalized in late 2008. The first classes are tentatively expected to begin in April 2009.

The program, which is geared toward working professionals, consists of online coursework and face-to-face classes delivered by Texas A&M HRD faculty who travel to Bahrain.

The Bahrain program is similar to EAHR's pre-existing HRD program in Saudi Arabia. EAHR is currently in talks to set up HRD programs in Taiwan, Kenya, Mexico, Jamaica, Albania and Chile.

"Internationally, people are very excited about human resource development," said Toby Marshall Egan, assistant professor in EAHR and managing director of the international HRD programs.

"There are several reasons for that. One is that our workplace is dynamic; it's changing all the time. We’re becoming more and more aware of the importance of lifelong learning to the basic success of an average employee, not to mention to an organization that wants to excel. Certainly, another part of what's building that excitement is that around the world a lot of governments are establishing human resource development ministries."