Technical and Vocational Training Corp. (TVTC) chief Ali Al-Ghafees has signed 33 partnerships with the private sector to establish nonprofit technical training institutes.

Al-Ghafees explained that these advanced training centers will impart specialized training in a number of industrial fields and aim to serve a strategic vision to raise the number of trainees to 300,000 by 2020.

He added that these partnerships have launched 18 institutes hosting 6,398 trainees while work is being carried out to establish four new ones that are expected to kick off by the end of the fiscal year.

Al-Ghafees’ remarks came during a meeting organized by the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) in the presence of Chairman Maher bin Saleh Jamal, as well as large numbers of businessmen and the chamber’s members.

Al-Ghafees said that linking the partnership program with the labor market would bring major benefits to the Saudi society. “We’ll be meeting the accelerating demand for generated skills in technology and economy, creating job opportunities in this field, meeting the needs of the increasing competition and slow ratio of development as well as meeting the market’s needs of enhancing the services and output of the training centers,” he explained.

Al-Ghafees referred to the a strategic partnership with Saudi Aramco, eight partnerships with international companies to construct a refinery and power plant in Jazan, and 20 existing strategic partnerships with 20 institutes designed and operated by major global companies in various areas, including energy, water, aviation and construction.

While there are privately funded projects to support the vocational training, Al-Ghafees said that the success of these initiatives depends on linking the training strategies to the market needs, as well as working to enhance the public’s image of the vocational training and offering to provide more positive information and success stories in this field.

“Our strategy is to establish institutions of excellence as a new form of partnership between the private and public sectors,” he added, explaining that these institutions aim to present the highest international standards for vocational training in the Kingdom through recruiting the best trainers, especially for the new training facilities.

Currently, there are 110,000 students receiving training in the Kingdom’s vocational institutes. There are around 50 technical training facilities and 72 industrial high school institutes. The organization looks to open a new training facility each month hoping to serve the Kingdom’s youth — 60 percent of the population — and help them find suitable job opportunities in the vocational field.