RIYADH: The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) and Saudi Aramco have joint plans to provide specialized training programs for young Saudis in the oil industry, local media has said, quoting a TVTC spokesman.

Fahd Al-Otaibi, TVTC spokesman, said Saudi Aramco is a strategic partner of the TVTC and there is a plan to expand the partnership for the operation of new training institutes to support the oil sector with trained national cadres.

There is also a plan to increase the capacities of existing training institutes to accommodate the growing numbers of secondary school graduates, he said.

He said the number of applicants from among those graduates was estimated at 16,000 last year but only 2,184 were admitted.

There are six technical institutes which specialize in oil and oil-based industries in the Kingdom. They are in Dammam, Khafji, Abqaiq, Al-Ahsa, Jazan and Darb. The facilities include different specialties including oil-petrochemical refinery operations, electricity, mechanical, welding, pipe works, and heavy equipment, he said.

The number of graduates from the institutes was 1,200 last year but it must be noted that students normally receive offers from companies working in this sector during the training period,he said.

The institutes specialized in oil-related matters are categorized into “specialized institutes” group run by the TVTC in partnership with the private sector.

The number of “specialized institutes” is 21 in different areas and they come under the title of the “program of strategic partnerships with business sector.”

The program is one of many adopted by the TVTC to harmonize educational and training outputs and the needs of the Saudi labor market where all graduates sign employment contracts before graduation.