JEDDAH: The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) will meet the educational expenses of 12,000 students studying in public and private institutes and colleges under a three-year program that will end in 2012.
Adel Shafie, director of the fund in Madinah, said the program was aimed at training young Saudi men and women to meet local job market requirements.
“This program is not linked to employment in any companies,” Shafie told Al-Madinah Arabic daily. The HRDF will grant a monthly scholarship to students until the completion of their courses.
He said training programs for students getting HRDF scholarship would help them get jobs in the category of salesman, executive secretary, accountant, banking executive, security guards, computer maintenance staff, multimedia artist and page designer.
Those applying for the scholarship should not be employed anywhere and should be willing to join colleges and institutes as full- time students. Aged between 18 and 35, an applicant should not have received any previous financial support from the fund.
Shafie said nearly 1,750 students have already joined the program, including 1,500 at health institutes and more than 240 at Yanbu Industrial College.
More than 60,000 students have applied for scholarship through the fund’s website. Educational institutions participating in this program include the National Technical Institute, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and National Institute for Specialized Health Training.
“The fund will support field programs, projects and studies aimed at employing Saudis. It will also give loans to centers and institutions established in the Kingdom to train Saudis,” Hisham Lingawi, director of the fund’s branch office in the Makkah province, said.
Unemployment among the 4.17 million native work force rose to 10 percent at the end of August 2008, up from 9.8 percent six months earlier, according to a report.
The new Saudization drive is being carried out by HRDF in coordination with the Ministry of Labor, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation.
