Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), the largest university for women in the world, has partnered with tech giant Dell to train and certify Saudi Arabia’s first female data scientists.
The university’s College of Computer and Information Sciences said it has successfully trained 57 female data science and big data analytics students this semester with an additional 103 students certified in cloud infrastructure.
The achievement follows a partnership with Dublin City University to launch the first Masters in Computing degree with specialisation in data analytics in Saudi Arabia.
Auhood Alfaries, Dean of the College of Computer and Information Sciences, said: “Building a comprehensive curriculum to cover the essential knowledge area for the computing disciplines and to equip our students with the skills required for the future workplace is a priority for Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University.
“We strive to continually evolve to contribute towards building a knowledge-based economy, in alignment with the Saudi Vision 2030, through strategic academic partnerships such as the Dell EMC External Research and Academic Alliance program which plays a crucial role in effectively developing our students into tomorrow’s workforce.”
A recent study by Dell Technologies highlighted the lack of workforce readiness as the leading barrier in the Middle East to becoming a successful digital business by 2030.
Mohammed Amin, senior vice president and regional manager, Middle East, Turkey & Africa, Dell, added: “The unrelenting pace of digital transformation in the marketplace is creating new challenges for all of us where organisations as well as individuals are increasingly realizing that investing in workforce readiness and the development of new skills is key to future success and competitive differentiation.
“We congratulate Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University on this wonderful achievement and look forward to continuing to work with them to advance the technical education of women in the region.”
Vision 2030, spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aims to increase the percentage of women in the workforce.
The Public Prosecution Office said in February that it would recruit women as investigators for the first time, noting that vacancies for women would be created at the level of lieutenant investigator.
History was made last month when women became notaries in Saudi Arabia for the first time.
In January, the Ministry of Justice also announced that it plans to recruit 300 women as social researchers, administrative assistants, Islamic jurisprudence researchers and legal researchers.
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