300 KSA colleges in pipeline

Saudi Arabia's drive to establish more vocational training facilities, especially for young women, moved a step closer this week when officials of the Kingdom's Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) announced that 300 technical colleges will be built.

The project is valued at $2.7 billion (SAR 10.1 billion) over five years. It includes 36 higher learning facilities for young women at a cost of $692 million (SAR 2.6 billion) throughout Saudi Arabia.

Construction is already underway for many of the campuses. Details of contractor services have not been released.

TVTC is expected to admit 50,000 trainees next year, out of 72,000 who applied online this year. But technical colleges were unable to admit more than 15,000 for the first semester because of the lack of vacancies. The TVTC is responsible for training and  employment after graduation.

In a related development, construction for a Jeddah technical college campus is underway. About 1,000 students will begin studying next year.

The projects are aimed at reducing unemployment among Saudis, especially women who do not pursue university degrees. Programs include on-the-job training for students by providing work at private institutions during summer holidays. More than half - 55% - of the Kingdom's university graduates are female, but the majority remains at home as most families do not send their daughters and sisters to work places. But the trend is changing in recent years.

Many young women have of late taken up jobs as journalists, medical editors, executive secretaries and receptionists.

A good number of Saudi women, who were previously working abroad, have returned to the Kingdom after seeing the opportunities available to them.

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