A MoU is being signed by Dr. Abdullah M. Al Rubaish, Rector of the University of Dammam, and Hisham Albahkali, GE's President & CEO for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, in Riyadh recently to establish special scholarship for female students. — Courtesy photo DAMMAM — General Electric (GE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Dammam to provide scholarships for talented female Saudi students over the next three years. GE will extend annual scholarships to students, highlighting the company's commitment to further strengthen Saudi human capital development, and as part of the SR 22 million scholarships being offered by GE to Saudi students annually. GE provides 60 Saudi university students with academic scholarships each year. Educational scholarships are provided to 30 students of the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), while 30 scholarships are provided exclusively to female students from various universities in the Kingdom including the University of Dammam. In the presence of Dr. Khalid Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education, the MoU was signed by Dr. Abdullah M. Al Rubaish, Rector of the University of Dammam, and Hisham Albahkali, GE's President & CEO for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Albahkali said: “We are thankful to the University of Dammam, a leading biomedical engineering institution, for the opportunity to collaborate and offer our scholarship program to its students. We are excited to partner on this initiative, which highlights our commitment to strengthen the talents and academic orientation of Saudi students, enabling them to achieve excellent results, and thus build a strong talent pipeline of future business leaders. “We are keen to recruit, empower, and nurture Saudi talent for rewarding careers across our diverse businesses. At GE, we want to be associated with the best student talents, especially females, to promote workplace diversity and create career opportunities for Saudi youth.” The MoU was signed at the International Exhibition and Conference on Higher Education (IECHE, 2014) held recently in Riyadh. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Higher Education and was attended by more than 100 top universities. Over the years, GE has developed several successful co-op programs with leading Saudi institutions. GE has also unveiled a 50,000 sq. m advanced training facility, the GE Technical Academy in Jubail, developed in cooperation with the Saudi Technical & Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) and supported by the Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf). As part of its $1 billion investment commitment to the Kingdom, GE has joined hands with Saudi Aramco and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to launch the first all-female business process services center in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The center will be staffed by Saudi females and will initially serve Saudi Aramco and GE as anchor clients. GE will create up to 1,000 employment opportunities for this initiative. — SG
