RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's education sector is undergoing a strategic transformation as it shifts its focus towards specialized areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics and nuclear energy.
Driven by the Vision 2030 plan for economic diversification, this marks a crucial step in equipping the Kingdom's future workforce with the high-demand skills needed to secure the jobs of tomorrow.
Mansoor Ahmed, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa region at Colliers, the Canadian professional services and management firm, says the shift towards AI and technology is creating new job opportunities and driving higher education reforms.
“Graduates with expertise in these fields will fill high-demand roles, helping to reduce youth unemployment,” Ahmed told Arab News.
Saudi Arabia's National Data and Artificial Intelligence Strategy, launched in 2020, aims to attract $20 billion in investment by 2030 and cultivate a workforce of 20,000 AI and data specialists.
Ahmed says the emergence of this highly educated tech workforce will in turn help attract foreign investment, “positioning Saudi Arabia as a potential leader in innovation.”
AI could add more than $320 billion to the Middle East economy. A PWC analysis predicts that Saudi Arabia is expected to have the largest gains in absolute terms, worth $135.2 billion, and the United Arab Emirates will see the largest overall impact at 14 percent of its expected gross domestic product in 2030.
“The development of nuclear power plants and the integration of AI in various sectors will generate specialized roles in engineering, data analytics and machine learning,” Ahmed said. “This underlines the need to prioritize education in technology, AI, robotics and nuclear energy.”
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Saudi Arabia has confirmed its commitment to future technology by becoming a hub for global events and forums such as LEAP, the Global AI Summit and the International Exhibition and Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing.
But if the Kingdom hopes to lead in these specialist areas, it must first bridge the gap between market demand and educational outcomes.
A report produced by Colliers found that the current enrollment distribution at the kingdom's public universities “lacks alignment with the labor market”, with students still favoring humanities and Islamic studies.
That is now changing. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has an artificial intelligence initiative focused on graduate-level research and education, while KAUST Academy focuses on talent development in AI with programs targeting outside students.
“KAUST aims to address this gap by offering specialized training and development programs in areas that are in high demand, helping students transition from traditional fields of study to more marketable disciplines,” Sultan Albarakati, director of the KAUST Academy, told Arab News.
“We focus on upgrading a wide range of students to prepare them for future labor markets.”
DID YOUKNOW?
Saudi Arabia's national strategy for data and artificial intelligence aims to attract $20 billion in investment by 2030.
The kingdom aims to cultivate a workforce of 20,000 AI and data specialists by the end of the decade.
AI could add more than $320 billion to the Middle East economy, with Saudi Arabia alone earning $135.2 billion.
Supported by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, KAUST Academy's AI program covers the entire field, from basic to advanced, with projects that allow students to demonstrate the knowledge they acquire.
The program focuses on improving skills in key areas such as deep learning libraries, optimization, linear algebra, machine learning, computer vision, artificial intelligence applications, Python programming, and large-scale deep learning.
To support AI research in Saudi Arabia, Silicon Valley tech giant Google recently awarded five seed grants to KAUST faculty members. The grants, totaling $100,000, will fund projects focused on multilingual, multimodal machine learning, particularly generative and large language models.
KAUST Academy focuses on talent development in AI with programs aimed at external students. (Included)
Ahmed says the kingdom's investment in AI spans multiple sectors, integrating into healthcare, robotics, manufacturing and the service sector – introducing new roles that require a mix of technical and analytical skills.
“This cross-industry application will greatly expand the job opportunities for graduates,” he said.
AI is expected to change the world of work in the coming years. About 23 percent of jobs are expected to change by 2027, with 69 million new jobs created and 83 million eliminated, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023.
To ensure that educational outcomes are aligned with labor market needs, Saudi Arabia's Human Capability Development Program has decided to review higher education degrees based on their recent and expected employability outcomes.
“Training in these high-demand skills will equip Saudi citizens for success in a technology-driven economy, with the HCDP emphasizing critical thinking, problem-solving and technical expertise,” Ahmed said.
