The annual Middle East Education, Training, Equipment and Solutions (MEETES 09) exhibition, will be held at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events from March 15-18. The event will be organized by Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions and patronized by the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC). Holland and Brazil are taking part in this event for the first time, while Malaysia will be back for its fourth year of participation. Canada, Britain, Germany, Ireland, the United States, Turkey, Switzerland, Cyprus, Australia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Bahrain are among other overseas participants taking part alongside local companies. General education, higher education, e-learning and distance learning, as well as training, careers and recruitment, and educational solutions will be among the key areas in the exhibition. There will also be a symposium running alongside the exhibition. A number of leading government and quasi-governmental agencies have worked together to present a high-profile symposium. It will include a series of lectures, workshops and demonstrations. General education remains at the forefront of spending by the Saudi government, with particular emphasis on primary and secondary education. This is substantiated by the fact that 2,074 new schools have been constructed and 4,352 others are currently under construction. Moreover, 2,000 existing schools are under renovation. This continual program of construction and refurbishment has created a vast market for all types of educational aids and apparatus, and is particularly evident in all areas of information technology and state-of-the-art equipment. Higher education in the Kingdom is also undergoing major changes with the opening of new universities. With the region's highest PC penetration, the Kingdom's e-learning industry is expected to exceed $125 million in 2008 and is forecast to grow at an impressive annual rate of 33 percent over the next five years. “Due to the government's policy of Saudization and the economy's growing diversity into manufacturing and service industries, vocational and technical training have become key areas for the development of individuals by both the governmental and private sectors,” said Dr. Ali Bin Nasser Al-Ghafis, president of the TVTC.
