Saudi education witnesses rapid transformation in last five years

Saudi education witnesses rapid transformation in last five years

RIYADH: During his televised interview last week to mark the 5th anniversary of the Vision 2030 program, one of the many subjects addressed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was the Kingdom's education system. He said that his ambitions ran even higher. "We might be working toward a very ambitious objective… having one university ranked among the best 10 universities worldwide, which is King Saud University. But even if it ranked 20 or 30 that would be extremely good." A report released on Sunday by real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank said the Kingdom's education sector is undergoing rapid transformation across all levels and "it creates a compelling case to invest in the education space of the Kingdom." In the five years to 2018, the total number of students in higher education in Saudi Arabia grew by 8. 3 percent to 1. 62 million. The Kingdom has 60 universities, 70 percent of which are public institutions. In terms of subject matter, there has been a 61 percent increase in the take-up of business management courses in public universities, while the natural sciences, mathematics and statistics sector recorded a 55. 9 percent increase in the number of students enrolling. • In