JEDDAH — The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) has announced a 32 percent increase in the number of women who have enrolled for vocational training this academic year over last year. The majority of trainees chose training programs in accounting, beauty and skin care and fashion design. Badrya Al-Zair, head of the technical training office for females, said they were considering to add a new program for women to train them in gold and jewelry design. She explained that they have already included programs that are in high demand such as food manufacturing, website design and multimedia. The newly added training programs came after a field study in all Saudi cities in an attempt to develop programs to qualify girls in skills needed in the labor market. Al-Zair noted that there is high demand for various programs offered by the TVTC since graduates tend to find jobs easily after they graduate. She noted that they have taken into consideration two points while designing the programs: first they seek to meet the demand of the business sector and then they opt to consider the jobs available in each region. The TVTC also offers training programs on event management, in addition to accounting, library science, computer technology and beauty and skin care. The corporation operates 36 technical colleges for women, 17 of them are run in cooperation with international colleges that specialize in technical and vocational fields. The TVTC is scheduling an international conference in Riyadh mid-December to discuss the development of women training in line with Saudi Vision 2030. At least 15 experts are expected to participate in the conference to discuss women empowerment and enhancing women participation in the socioeconomic development.
