President of Umm Al Qura University (UQU) Dr. Bakri Bin M'atoog Bin Bakri Assas inaugurated on Thursday, Rabi' Al Awwal 16, 1438H, the Engineering Development and Training Unit at the Institute of Consulting Research and Studies.

The opening ceremony was held at King Abdulaziz Hall in  Al-Abdiyah and attended by Vice-President for Business & Innovation Dr. Nabil bin Abdul Qader Koshak, Vice-President for Branches Dr. Abdulmajeed bin Saeed Al Ghamdi, Dean of the Institute Dr. Ali bin Mohamed Al Shaeri, Deans of Engineering Colleges in Makkah,Al-Qunfudah and Al Leith along with a number of officials from interested public and private sector entities.

Vice-dean of the Institute for Professional Support Naming Dr. Sahel bin Abdullah bin Sa'dul Din Wahib delivered the opening speech after listening to few verse of the Holy Quran.

He said the unit is the core of other units that would cover various fields of science and humanities. It plays a role in development of the country, he said, adding "We endeavor to make it an excellent, pioneer and real model in the domain of engineering training" to meet the needs and aspirations of engineers who are the most important factors of the engineering education process in the world.

"This would positively reflect on the engineers efficiency and performance," he said. Therefore, the quality of the whole sector would be better and contribute to the improvement of engineering services in Saudi Arabia, he added.

The unit is expected to seriously contribute in achieving the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030, he said, adding "this is the main and ultimate goal."

The vice-dean added the training packages provided by the unit focus on boosting efforts to adapt the educational outputs in accordance with the labor market needs.

He described the engineering sector as the backbone of development that extracts ideas from theories to the real world. Dr. Wahib noted the unit can creatively qualify engineering cadres with the potentials to improve services in various fields.

In the same context, Head of the Unit Dr. Ahmed Basalah highlighted accelerated efforts to realize goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 which is a knowledge-economy dependent.

Having a technically qualified national workforce is a necessary for the knowledge economy to create jobs, push the wheel of economic development forward, and lure national and foreign money into investments, he said, giving examples for the community's needs for training and engineering technology upgrade.

Depending on the UQU knowledge capabilities, the unit would sharpen engineers and professional labor skills to make them able to cope with the changes and build strategic partnerships with the public and private sectors, he added, praising efforts exerted by Umm Al-Qura University and its president to support the institute.

Later, the participants set to watch a documentary about the unit in addition to a presentation on "Jahis (or ready)" program. Engineer Madkar Al-Qahtani gave a presentation on the program and its role in training engineers to manage their efforts in projects through a package of courses set according to international standards to guarantee success of projects for which they are responsible.

Al-Qahtani applauded the UQU - represented by the institute - for adopting this plan and launch a unit for engineering training and development.

In his comments on the event, Dr. Assas said the unit is a fruit for excellence in the field of engineering development and training.

He said the cooperation between the College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture and the Institute of Consulting Research and Studies gives a strong message for the international organizations in line with the Saudi Vision 2030.