Expat women working in the retail, decoration, design, jewelry and fabric sectors will soon be replaced with Saudi women, according to a plan being formulated by the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor. This was announced by TVTC Governor Dr. Ali Al-Ghafees during the launch of the Third Career Camp here Wednesday night. Visas in these fields will soon be stopped, and female graduates of TVTC colleges and institutes will be recruited to fill vacancies, he said. Al-Ghafees said the Girls' Higher Institute of Technology is training Saudi girls in 23 specializations in seven fields. At present a majority of workers in these specializations are expatriate women. TVTC has started procedures for enrolling 60,000 male and female Saudis in its colleges and institutes, registering a 20 percent increase from the previous year, he said. Al-Ghafees said there are 60 industrial institutes, including 35 colleges of technology and 16 girls' higher institutes, across the Kingdom. He said agreements have been signed with training agencies in Ireland, Britain and New Zealand under which a student has to complete two years training in the Kingdom and two years abroad to get a bachelor's degree. TVTC has signed agreements and contracts with a number of companies to train technology college graduates before they establish their own small enterprises in coordination with the Credit Bank as a financial supporter. The TVTC governor said the Riyadah Institute will train 10,000 youths in the coming five years in cooperation with the Saudi Credit Bank, Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Saudi Telecom (STC) and Inma Bank.
