Colleges of Excellence to provide world-class job skills to Saudis

Saudi Arabia’s goal is to set up an elite tier of world-class technical training colleges, providing opportunities for students that allow them to turn their passions into careers, according to Saleh A. Alamar, CEO of the newly established Colleges of Excellence (CoE).
Addressing the media during the launch of the Colleges of Excellence recently, Alamar said the global education entity is making its debut on the Kingdom’s education scene as part of a national initiative to streamline the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system.
He said that a new governmental organization, Saudi Skills Standards (SSS), has also been established to ensure that world class standards are applied to TVET across the Kingdom.
He said students can apply in two phases of admission periods. The first phase is from June 12 to July 17 and the second phase will be from Aug. 1-31.
He added that a wide range of specialties are taught which are linked to the needs and requirements of the Saudi economy and labor market. These include administration and business, automotive and transport, environment, hospitality and tourism, IT, fashion and beauty, and food technology.
He said that a CoE team will find, select and support international training providers to set up each new College of Excellence in the Kingdom. CoE will work with employers to understand their needs, determine priority, obtain hiring guarantees from large companies and ensure their continuous involvement with the colleges.
“CoE’s vision is to connect learners to world class training, opening the door to successful, long term careers. It aims to create pathways to success for learners, education providers and employers and improve the quality of human resources in the Kingdom while facilitating more and better jobs for Saudis,” Alamar said.
According to him ten colleges will be established in the Kingdom — Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, Asir, Buraydah, Jazan and Al Kharj.
He said that CoE has recruited leading international training providers from across the world, which include Laureate (USA) and Nescot (UK), leveraging their world class experience and techniques.
“The CoE education model will deliver considerable value by allowing students to acquire both high-level academic skills as well as more broad-based technical skills that are easily transferable and focused to meet the demands of the workplace,” he said.
Employers will also play an important role throughout the training process to ensure that students are given the right skills that will make them more suitable and employable.
Students will have the opportunity for hands-on internships and frequent interactions with potential employers as faculty or guest lecturers. Closer student-teacher relationships, emphasis on broad skills such as English and a deeper focus on innovation and entrepreneurship will be applied to ensure competitiveness with traditional academic courses.
The learning experience will also be spread out in a dynamic environment consisting of classroom learning, workshops and on-the-job training.
He said that each College of Excellence will act as a separate entity and operate independently.