Saudi Arabia is undertaking massive initiatives to overhaul its education system, following the announcement of its historic 2010 education budget of SR137 billion ($36.5 billion) earlier this year, said an expert.

The program to revamp the existing academic structure is part of a 25-year strategy to develop the higher education system in Saudi Arabia, with aims to support its burgeoning development and job market requirements, said ASF Karim, CEO of Edutech, a leading educational solutions and services provider.

“Saudi Arabia’s considerable education budget this year provides a significant boost to the Kingdom’s regional academic standing and will benefit teachers and students alike in the short term and the state in general amidst this continuous movement towards further growth,” Karim noted.

In line with this, Edutech has pledged its support for the Kingdom’s efforts to develop its human resources by delivering pioneering eLearning solutions, he added.

According to him, the overhaul of the education system will raise the demand for innovative, technology-driven learning solutions to back several key projects in some of the newer universities in the Kingdom.

Saudi is among the regional countries shelling out considerable percentages of their annual budgets towards achieving qualitative improvements to educational infrastructure in the recent years.

At present, Saudi Arabia is pumping SR11.8 billion ($3.1 billion) into a project, which aims to promote overall development among students through increased knowledge as well as growth in their physical, professional, psychological and intellectual capabilities.

Amidst the country’s announced plans to build more schools in 2010, Edutech has identified the potential in offering its industry-leading and proven effective eLearning solutions, which promote 21st century teaching and learning across the region.

“Saudi Arabia’s considerable education budget this year provides a significant boost to the Kingdom’s regional academic standing and will benefit teachers and students alike in the short term and the state in general amidst this continuous movement towards further growth,” Karim said.

“This latest development also opens up an excellent opportunity for us as a leader in delivering technology-driven learning solutions to bring new-age tools that will promote the culture of interactive learning with more targeted results. We have several new products to introduce to the region, and Saudi is among the top markets we are eyeing for these latest innovations in eLearning technology.”

With the domain, technology and execution experience to address educational institutions’ present requirements, Edutech has established a strong presence in the Saudi Arabian market, having completed a number of massive implementations for some of its most important colleges and universities in the country, Karim stated.

This includes a recent integrated eLearning implementation for King Khalid University, and the deployment of industry-leading software, hardware and other interactive tools for Effat College (Jeddah), KFUPM Schools (Al Khobar), Al Andulas Schools (Jeddah) and Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (Al Khobar).

At present, the company is working on several key projects for some of the newer universities, such as Taiba, Taif, Hail, Jizan and Najran, he added.-TradeArabia News Service