accountability. This would free the ministry from all the work that was not within its core set of duties, allowing it to concentrate its energy and resources on education and training.
[41]
As we put our new strategy for the ministry in motion, we hired several local and international experts, mainly from Saudi Aramco, which had just finished establishing the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) . This collaboration was viewed as a way of increasing graduates’ skillsets and preparing them to join the company. The cooperation between the Education Development Program and the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) – which was part of these initiatives – was a success. The program began producing a new generation of young minds that would go on to study at KAUST and then become productive members of the budding knowledge society. One of my fondest memories was when I attended an event during the holy month of Ramadan at the KAUST campus celebrating the return of the first cohort from abroad. At the ceremony, one of the graduates sat next me to and said: “You cannot imagine how proud I am of what we have accomplished. May I tell you my story? After all, it was made possible by the Ministry of Education.” I listened with curiosity to his story. “I’m one of the students who enrolled in the Mawhiba program at my school. After graduating, they told me that KAUST would send me abroad on a scholarship to get my Bachelor’s degree at a US university. It was then th at I decided to go to Thuwal to visit the university that was going to give me the scholarship. When I arrived, I saw a cluster of buildings and roads that I followed to a massive modern facility. Is this the university? I asked. They replied that it was the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and that the university was behind me. We went out searching for the university, but only found colored lines in the sand and a series of trenches. [42] “ In the distance, I saw a group of finished buildings and, once I reached them, asked an engineer: Where is King Abdullah University? He replied: Who are you ? After I told him that I am part of the university cohort that will study in the USA and I wanted to see the university, he said: My son, what you’re looking at is your university: a plot of land in the desert. It will be finished soon, but the buildings aren’t what’s important. You are the ones who will build the future. Young people like you are going to shape the future of the nation when you return after finishing your studies and taking advantage of the amazing opportunities before you to serve the Kingdom. ”
[43]
I could see the tears in his eyes when he said: “Here I am, returning home after graduating with a degree in Material Engineering from the most prestigious American university [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT ]. I’ll never forget the interaction I had with the engineer that day. The university buildings have been completed in record time and rival the quality of university buildings in the USA. All laboratories and technological systems are state-of-the-art. I want to thank the Ministry of Education for giving me this opportunity, and the Kingdom’s leadership for establishing an academic research institution in just three years.” The young graduate wiped the tears from his eyes and ended with: “I am proud to be Saudi. All I hope is to achieve what we aspire for and be able to give back even just a fraction of what we have been given.”
Prioritizing Education Quality & Diversity
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