The plan is designed to phase out hundreds of thousands of foreigners employed in the country as electricians, air-conditioning technicians and plumbers and in many other trades.
“In order to cater to the training needs of Saudi students, three vocational institutes including a college of technology will be opened every month from now over the next five years,” TVTC Gov. Ali Al-Ghafis told a press conference on Sunday.
Saleh A. Alamr, deputy governor of the TVTC, said there were about 160,000 students, including 10,000 girls, currently on the rolls of 50 TVTC colleges and vocational institutes.
“More than 100 technical colleges and institutes will be established within the next five years,” said Alamr, adding that the number of TVTC graduates will increase substantially in years to come.
He said the TVTC had been spending a large amount of its SR4.2 billion annual budget on expanding its training facilities this year.
“Consider a nation where more than half of the population is under 25 years of age, who need a lot of colleges, training skills and motivation before they are deployed in the labor market,” said Alamr.
“With Saudi Arabia’s unique set of demographics, the need to train a future workforce is a national strategic priority.”
Referring to over 8.5 million foreigners employed in the Kingdom, the deputy governor said there would be a need for foreign workers for a long period of time, especially in all 130 vocations in which the TVTC has been offering training.
He said the fields in which boys and girls are trained in include IT, medical equipment handling, training for plumbers, electricians, mechanical technicians, body care specialists, hair dressing (for girls) and many other vocations.
When asked about the priority areas in which Saudi boys and girls are being trained, Alamr said the rapid growth of TVTC facilities to meet the dramatically increasing number of trainees amounted to a daunting Saudi national effort.
Of the approximately 160,000 students currently in TVTC-sponsored training, about 3,000 are in military vocational training programs and 77,000 in 35 colleges of technology, with the goal of rapidly expanding the vital Saudi technology and defense industrial base.
Al-Ghafis also announced plans to hold a major international technical conference and exhibition, which will be inaugurated by Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, here on April 24.
A number of renowned local and international participants will present their studies and research papers on training and sustainable development at this three-day event, organized once every two years by the TVTC.
