JEDDAH, 10 October 2005 — The General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT), in association with General Motors, plans to establish 100 automobile training institutes in various parts of the Kingdom.
“We have already reached an agreement with General Motors and we are now working out training programs and recruiting trainers,” said Dr. Ali Al-Ghafees, the organization’s governor.
He said GOTEVOT had concluded another agreement with Alsalam Aircraft Company to establish an institute for aircraft maintenance. “We are now finalizing this project,” Al-Madinah Arabic daily quoted Al-Ghafees as saying.
The organization intends to open another institute for construction industry in Riyadh in cooperation with Saudi Oger. Saudi Binladen has already begun setting up a similar institute in Jeddah, and Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed has laid the project’s cornerstone.
“These new projects highlight the growing cooperation between the government and the private sector in setting up institutes to train Saudis for technical and mechanical jobs,” Ghafees said.
In a related development, seven American technical training institutes have voiced their desire to open branches in the Kingdom. Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), said he had held talks with the directors of the American institutes during his recent visit to the United States.
GOTEVOT earlier announced plans to establish 17 technical colleges for women for the first time. The new colleges for women, which will be completed within three to five years, are designed to meet job market requirements.
Ghafees signed contracts with national firms earlier this year for the establishment of 101 technical institutes and 52 technical colleges at a total cost of SR6 billion.
The move to set up technical colleges for girls comes in line with government plans to expand job opportunities for women beyond the traditional sectors of health and education. The new Labor Law, approved by the Cabinet last month, has raised the Saudization rate in private companies to 75 percent.
According to Dr. Nahed Taher, a senior economist at the National Commercial Bank, the overwhelming majority of the Kingdom’s female university graduates, who account for 55 percent of the total, remain at home.
Many young women have recently taken jobs as medical transcriptionists, executive secretaries and receptionists. A fair number of Saudi women, who were previously working abroad, have returned to the Kingdom after seeing the opportunities available to them.
