JEDDAH, 5 June 2006 — After spending eight weeks training at Dudley College of Technology in the United Kingdom, Mohammed Al-Asiri, chairman of the Mechanical Department at the Jeddah Technical College, has returned to the Kingdom with the aim of applying his experience in the vocational training field.

Al-Asiri was part of the Gulf Group Trainers Program organized by the British Council. The program was aimed at giving the participants experience in British training practices, said Anthony Calderbank, assistant director of the British Council in Alkhobar.

Al-Asiri, the only Saudi in the program, said techniques, which have been in use in the UK for 20 years, can be applied in technical colleges and institutes here.

He said in the UK all vocational jobs must have standards that would allow a trainee to qualify for a certain job. In Saudi Arabia the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT) has been doing the same and up to now has come up with 270 standards for various trades.

Al-Asiri said the organization has been forming committees, in conjunction with the private sector, to work toward labeling job descriptions for factories across the country. He said GOTEVOT wants to apply the UK system of National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in all Saudi training institutes.

In the UK there are bodies that visit factories, assess employees’ performance and issue certificates stating they are performing their jobs professionally. Al-Asiri said those evaluators come from different institutes and colleges and are paid by the British government. “We are planning to apply the same system locally,” he said.

GOTEVOT is currently working on raising standards and is evaluating the qualifications of foreign labor in Saudi factories. Officials hope to extend it to include Saudis as well.

Al-Asiri said there is a plan to send 30 Saudis to the UK to receive qualifications in certified training. These people would then return to Saudi Arabia and hopefully evaluate others.

Al-Asiri said GOTEVOT is opening next year the country’s first technical training institutes for women in Riyadh and Jeddah. The plan is to have 30 technical colleges for women around the Kingdom by the year 2010, he added.

Al-Asiri returned from the UK with a certificate in manufacturing and production operation.