Apple plans to open Apple Developer Academy in Saudi Arabia

Apple is planning to open an Apple Developer Academy headquarters in Riyadh, making it the first-ever developer academy from Apple to be opened in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

As reported by Saudi Gazette, the academy will provide tools and training for aspiring female programmers, developers, and designers to help them establish startups and create job opportunities in iOS app development. Students will be taught under a curriculum created by Apple, like at other Apple Developer Academy locations around the world. There are several focus tracks such as programming, business applications, marketing, design, and professional skills.

The Apple Developer Academy will work in partnership with the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), the Tuwaiq Academy, and the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), where the academy will be located.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Education, Dr. Hamad Al-Sheikh, praised the expansion saying, “this will be a key center for producing programmers and technology developers among the daughters of this country to support the needs of the market.” The chairman of the Board of Directors of SAFCSP and the Tuwaiq Academy, Faisal Al-Khamisi said:

It is one of the fruits of the great and unlimited support that the technology sector finds from Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman in pursuit of achieving the goals of Vision 2030 and supporting efforts to empower women and increase rates of employed women. It will contribute to achieving the social and economic goals of our ambitious Vision, which will make this partnership one of the important aspects in supporting these trends during the next ten years.

In our partnership with Apple, we will work together and strive to create an economic ecosystem for business to instill skills that enhance innovation and technology, and ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for our local community and the societies of the world that will undoubtedly benefit from the technical cadres that will receive education and training at the Apple Academy.

The Apple Developer Academy was first launched in Brazil back in 2013, outreaching students who are passionate about app development. And now, it is expanding to MENA.