Colleges of Excellence, Siemens sign MoU to advance vocational education and training

To continuously drive the creation of employment opportunities for young Saudi nationals and increase workforce localization in line with Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020, Siemens signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Colleges of Excellence (CoE). The MoU marks another milestone in the collaboration between the two organizations which aims to jointly develop a vocational education and training concept modeled around the German dual education system. Furthermore, Siemens and CoE will work together to create a concept for a pilot project, ahead of a gradual Kingdom-wide rollout. The joint initiative will focus on the skills requirements of primarily Saudi and German employers in the Kingdom to develop more electrical technicians, mechanical technicians and business administration graduates. 
As the Kingdom continues to drive economic diversification, vocational education and training is becoming increasingly important to achieve the goals of the National Transformation Program 2020 and Vision 2030. These include ambitious targets such as increasing the number of students enrolled in technical and vocational training from 104,000 to 950,000, and increasing the percentage of high school graduates entering vocational training programs from 7 percent to 12.5 percent by 2020.
Ahmad Fahad Al Fahaid, governor of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), said “TVTC works with the private sector to deliver top quality technical and vocational training to the young citizens of Saudi Arabia. Our collaboration with Siemens is a good example since it explores how aspects of the German dual education system can be applied in Saudi Arabia to produce graduates that are ready to be absorbed by the labor market.”
Joe Kaeser, CEO and President of Siemens AG, explained “Siemens has provided best-in-class vocational education and training globally for more than a century and is currently training nearly 11,500 of its own and clients’ employees.” 
Vocational education and training is a unique lever to further develop local skills, drive Saudization and benefits all parties of this dual system in terms of employability, developing highly skilled workers and fostering youth employment”.

Source: Arab News