JEDDAH, 13 June 2006 — A new academy for training and development has come up in Jeddah. Initially devoted to the automobile sector and its varied departments, the Muhammad A. Al-Hamrani Academy for Training and Development aims to train fresh school graduates in many other sectors of industry in the long run.
“We’ve long term plans and we hope to eventually cover all sectors of industry,” Muhammad A. Al-Hamrani, chairman and president of Al-Hamrani Group of Companies that runs the academy said at its formal opening on Madinah Road on Sunday night.
Al-Hamrani interacted with 24 school graduates who are currently undergoing training at the academy located in the premises of the group’s Nissan car showroom. “They’ve completed five months of theoretical training and will now do on-job training at our showrooms and workshops,” Al-Hamrani told Arab News.
Their on-job training in the automobile sector will include business, sales, finance and administration, aside from technical aspects that include technology, maintenance and spare parts, he said.
“We hope to train as many as 600 young Saudis in the coming next 10 years,” Al-Hamrani said, adding that the academy has been designed keeping in view the Kingdom’s ongoing program for Saudization.
The 24 trainees were selected from 7,000 applicants, all fresh school or high school graduates. They go through an intensive, integrated course 25 hours a week in 12 months. “They are being coached by four of our teachers,” Othman Atta, training program manager at EDAFA Training & Consulting Center, said.
The program is designed to instill in the trainees the car culture and develop their skills, both in English and computer. “We give a special emphasis on self-development and the entire syllabus is part of the Nissan international program so that they become skilled and competent technically, professionally and psychologically,” said Atta, who is also the course coordinator.
The trainees are given a monthly stipend of SR1,250 and they will be required to sign a two-year employment contract with the Al-Hamrani Group at the end of their successful training.