Ex-post Evaluation

1 Background of the Project

The Saudi government is promoting the job replacement policy from foreign expatriates to Saudi nationals called Saudization to grow Saudi economy out of oil/ petrochemical industry dependent economy. To raise skilled labour is urgent issue for Saudi Government and Saudi government requested to Japan for the cooperation in improving technical education curricula at Riyadh technical college. Japan, as its response for this request, has cooperated in the relevant field, especially for the curricula improvement such as Common Subject and Workshop, Industrial Electronics and Control Technology, Computer Technology and Communication Technology during 1997 and 2001.

2 Project Overview

(1) Overall Goal

To satisfy demands for assistant engineers in the country in electronics at the College of Technology in Riyadh

(2) Project Purpose

To provide upgrading of the technical education of electronics at the College of Technology in Riyadh

(3) Outputs

(1) Improvement of Curricula & Syllabi

(2) Development of Teaching Materials

(3) Improvement of Teaching Methodology

(4) Improvement of Teaching Equipment

(5) Improvement of C / P Capabilities

(4) Inputs

Japanese side:

Saudi Arabia's Side:

1 Summary of Evaluation Results

(1)Impact

Experts' advice and opinions for improvement of Curricula and Syllabi are well heard among Saudi counterparts, however the suggested improvement had not been achieved during the project. As for Development of teaching materials, there was by-product of Teachers being actively involved in new & different change processed significantly improved materials in use at RCT.

(2)Sustainability

RCT maintains well the donated equipment and GOTEVOT allocates enough budgets for replacement of it. Given Management & Teacher continuing attention to further development of teaching materials, this activity can be sustainable. Change in methodology now an accepted practice with Management & Teachers examining new ways on a continuing basis.

2. Factors promoting sustainability and impact

(1)Factors concerning to Planning

Dispatching short term experts for equipment usage instruction along with the selection of equipment was quite useful.

(2)Factors concerning to the Implementation Process

The purpose of dispatching the short-term experts to instruct the usage of new equipment was plausible and useful in sense which graduate students could utilize the obtained ability of manipulating new equipment in actual work.

3. Factors inhibiting sustainability and impact

(1)Factors concerning to Planning

Project put its priorities to improve the curricula/syllabi and teaching theory rather than to transfer the latest technology in the field of electronics. But as for Saudi side, technology transfer itself was higher priority since market needs skilled labour. There are some RCT teachers comment on donated equipment which was not matched with market needs, although, judgement should be taken to consider the following fact that the speed of technology innovation in electronics is very fast and that it has been already three years since project terminated while market needs may have been different from now and that time project implemented.

(2)Factors concerning to the Implementation Process

Language and cultural difference affected negatively in communication between both parties during the project implementation. Most of inputs went for Curricula/syllabi improvement, although the Saudi system in teaching methodology was greatly different from Japanese one, the impact of improvement above was relatively small.
Also there were cases seen that experts' expertise were not fully matched with Saudi side requirement due to the difficulty in finding and dispatching full fledged experts at the right timing.

4. Conclusion

The Project played a major role in addressing an admirable Goal to satisfy demands for assistant engineers in electronics with appropriate knowledge and skills for the job market. However Project planners and Management did not effectively formulate the Project Purpose to fulfil the Goal efficiently given the resources allocated. This negatively impacted on Project performance.

5. Recommendations

Inadequate database and studies concerning job market requirements by sector inhibits policy-makers, planners and managers in Kingdom. Until government applies greater resources for collection and analysis of up-to-date information, then formulation of Project Purpose and Activity components will remain in error.

6. Lessons Learned

Since JICA primarily provides technical and managerial skills, it should be evident that Saudi Arabia with its large financial resources should provide funds in at least equal components. This has not been true in the past but should be strongly negotiated for in the future.

7. Follow-up Situation

In electronics field, Japanese government sent experts to the electronics education development centre for improvement of technical schools/colleges teachers' training between August 1999 to July 2001.