ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Consonant with conclusions drawn from the Eighth Saudi Development Plan, this paper presents Saudi Aramco’s business challenges in light of the need to improve Saudi educational system outcomes, to achieve a better alignment between industry needs and human resources. Particular attention is paid to current and desired outcomes in engineering education with a view to bringing into focus desired engineering education attributes (hard/soft skills) from an academic and industry point of view. Saudi Aramco’s workforce-profile is delineated with special emphasis on the number of engineers in the total workforce as well as the percentage of engineers at various management levels. Data are also presented that shed light on Saudi Aramco’s experience with testing and training thousands of high school graduates. The paper concludes by stressing the need for solid partnerships between academia, business, industry, government agencies and NGOs with a view to aligning their efforts to reform educational systems and to improve outcomes to reach internationally competitive educational levels.
