Several hundred Saudi students will travel to Ireland for vocational training under an agreement reached between the Government and the authorities there.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe, who is in the Middle East on a trade mission, announced the agreement today.
He said it would boost the economy and help to create local jobs. Students will learn vocational skills at Carlow Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology and Blanchardstown Institute of Technology in Dublin.
They will travel under Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Scholarship Programme.
Mr O’Keeffe announced the agreement following a meeting with the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Technical Vocational Training Corporation, Dr Ali Nasser Al Ghafis, in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
He said the arrangement would “build on our strong relationship with Saudi Arabia which considers Ireland among a small number of strategic partners in education”.
Athlone Institute of Technology, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and Waterford Institute of Technology already have working arrangements with the Saudi authorities for vocational training and education.
“Between them, they have 150 Saudi students studying degree programmes across a range of areas including construction, engineering, software and financial services,” Mr O’Keeffe said.
“The new agreements with the three institutes of technology will draw hundreds more Saudi students to Ireland under the well-funded scholarship programme where they will spend money in the local economy and help to create jobs.”
Such students could become “new ambassadors for Ireland” and choose the country for key investments originating in the Middle-East North-Africa region which is our fastest-growing emerging market, the Minister added.
The Saudi government is increasing its efforts to improve skills, because more than three out of five Saudis working in manufacturing are unskilled.
Over the next eight years, the Saudi vocational authority wanted to quadruple the number of trainers to 40,000 and raise the number of students in technical or vocational education to 500,000, including 100,000 women.
Mr O’Keeffe said about 800 Saudis are studying in Ireland and it is estimated they are worth some €20 million to the economy annually.
At a meeting meeting in with the Saudi higher education authority, Mr O’Keeffe received confirmation that Waterford Institute of Technology, Athlone Institute of Technology and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology have been approved for Masters ‘level nine’ programmes under the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme.
The three institutes are already approved for Bachelor degree programmes.
Some 45 Irish firms are represented on the Enterprise Ireland trade mission to the Middle East this week. It is aimed at developing exports and international education links.