Education ministry to provide railway scholarships for 1,000 Saudis

The Ministry of Education and Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) have signed an agreement to provide scholarships to 1,000 Saudis to undertake specialist railway courses abroad over the next five years.

Minister of Education Azzam Al-Dakhil said this would provide Saudi nationals with the skills and qualifications enabling them to take up jobs on the country’s railway projects. The scholarships will include bachelor’s and master’s degrees and cover infrastructure, rolling stock, electrical, signalling and telecommunications engineering, as well as railway operations, safety and logistics.

SRO President Mohamed Khaled Al-Suwaiket said a shortage of qualified Saudi nationals means there are job opportunities on the existing network as well as on the Haramain high speed line, GCC railway, North-South, Landbridge and other expansion projects, and the metro projects in Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Madinah and Dammam.

Applications for the scholarships can be made through the Ministry of Education from June 27.

A lot of job opportunities are expected in the railways sector as this sector is undergoing a massive expansion and modernization.

In 2010, SRO signed a SR5,157,800 contract for six months with the German International Cooperation (GIZ) to conduct the Saudi Railway Master Plan for the period 2010-2040.

The main objective of the master plan is to have a conceptual framework in place for the long-term development of a future passenger and freight transport network in the Kingdom.