With the second academic year fast approaching for the 100 young Saudi high school graduates who are currently in their first year of intensive technical studies at the Saudi Electronics & Home Appliances Institute (SEHAI) Project, the going isn't that easy. Selected by some six Saudi air-conditioners and home appliances distributor companies to pursue a two-year technical course in the newly opened SEHAI in Riyadh after passing through a series of rigid screening and tests, they are expected to achieve not just academic proficiency, but be able to absorb the high-standard work ethics enshrined in SEHAI core values. In line with SEHAI thrust, the Saudi and Japanese working groups for the institute's project have held another series of meeting at the Zagzoog for Home Appliances headquarters in Jeddah on Sunday to further iron out the details of the action plan for the next school year. The main focus of the latest meeting was on the syllabus to be taken by SEHAI students in their second academic year, which includes the textbooks to be used, the list of tools & equipment, layout plan for the workshops, and the training program to be implemented by the technical instructors. The Japanese Working Group, headed by Kenichi Sawaguchi, leader of SEHAI project team, Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME), Tokyo, argued that Daikin service manual should be adopted as the textbook. However, the Saudi Working Group asserted that the manual could best serve as reference book but not the textbook itself, contending that students need a simpler and easy-to-understand textbook. As it is, the Saudi Working Group said the Daikin manual is meant for those who have already sufficient knowledge in the relevant technical field. The seriousness of the discussion pertaining to the syllabus only proves one thing: Both working groups wanted SEHAI to produce top-caliber graduates who excel not only in theory but in actual work as well. Salim H. Al Asmarei, SEHAI overall in charge and head of the Saudi Working Group, said the two groups are in constant communication with each other to further enhance the academic programs of the vocational institute. He said that the ongoing discussion is in accordance with the institute's mission to support the nationalization of technical jobs in the field of electronics, office equipment, home appliances, air-conditioners, cooling systems, audio and visual devices, information technologies and communication industries. Dr. Mohammed A. Suhail, SEHAI executive project director, and dean of the institute, told Saudi Gazette that the working groups are having work in progress and do hold follow-up meetings every quarter to review and evaluate the advancement of students. He said the stern measures adopted by the institute would not only produce technically-qualified graduates but workers who have strong work ethics. The institute's work ethics program will instill in the students the core values that SEHAI stands for, he said, which are: character, teamwork, appearance, attitude, productivity, organizational skills, communication, cooperation, respect and attendance. Dr. Suhail added that students who do not pass the academic and value criteria set forth by SEHAI would not be able to graduate. At the end of every 11-month academic year, students undergo on-the-job-training program for six weeks, in which their performance will also be evaluated. Every student receives SR1,500 monthly as stipend, the dean of the school also said. After graduation, they will go back to the companies that sent them to SEHAI, and be given an initial standard basic salary of SR3,000 plus other perks, Al Asmarei told Saudi Gazette. Moreover, Dr. Suhail said the top three graduates will be sent to Japan to continue their studies from six months to one year and will have the opportunity of becoming assistant trainer when they return. The students attend classes for eight hours a day, six days a week. The medium of instruction is in English. The institute will confer on its graduates diplomas in different specializations: Electronics maintenance; Air-conditions and cooling system maintenance; Office equipment and computers maintenance; Home appliances maintenance; and Customer services (for maintenance, marketing and sales). Representatives from other participating Saudi home appliances distributors – ALJ, Abbar & Zainy, United Matbouli Group, Saklou & Sons, Olayan, Modern Electronics, and Al-Essa – expressed their own observations and thoughts, too, in the meeting. SEHAI's next school year will begin in February 2010. The school facility, which started only last September, has a capacity for 500 students. __
