RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's education sector is undergoing a strategic transformation as it shifts its focus to specialized fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics and nuclear energy.
Driven by the Vision 2030 economic diversification plan, this marks a decisive step in equipping the Kingdom's future workforce with the highly sought-after skills needed to secure the jobs of tomorrow.
Mansoor Ahmed, managing director of the Middle East and North Africa region at Colliers, a Canadian professional services and management company, says the shift towards artificial intelligence and technology is creating new jobs and driving higher education reforms.
“Graduates with expertise in these fields will fill in-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 create a workforce of 20,000 AI and data professionals.
Ahmed says the emergence of this highly skilled technical 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. PWC's analysis predicts that Saudi Arabia will gain the most in absolute terms at $135.2 billion, while the UAE will have the largest overall impact at 14 percent of expected gross domestic product in 2030.
“The development of nuclear power plants and the integration of artificial intelligence in various sectors will create specialized roles in engineering, data analysis and machine learning,” Ahmed said. “This highlights the need to prioritize education in technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and nuclear energy.”
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Saudi Arabia has demonstrated its commitment to the technology of the future 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.
However, if the Kingdom hopes to become a leader in these specialized fields, it must first close the gap between market demand and educational outcomes.
The report, prepared by Colliers, found that the current distribution of students at the Kingdom's public universities “lacks alignment with the staff market”, with students still favoring humanities and Islamic studies.
Now that is changing. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has an Artificial Intelligence Initiative focused on research and graduate education, while the KAUST Academy focuses on developing AI talent with programs targeting external learners.
“KAUST aims to close this gap by offering specialized learning and development programs in high-demand fields, helping students transition from traditional fields of study to more market-oriented disciplines,” Sultan Albarakati, director of the KAUST Academy, told Arab News.
“We focus on upskilling a wide range of students to prepare them for future job markets.”
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Saudi Arabia's National Data and Artificial Intelligence Strategy aims to attract $20 billion in investment by 2030.
By the end of the decade, the Kingdom plans to create 20,000 AI and data specialists.
Artificial intelligence could bring more than $320 billion to the Middle East economy, with Saudi Arabia alone receiving $135.2 billion.
Supported by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, KAUST Academy's AI program covers the entire field, from the most basic to the advanced level, with projects that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge.
The program aims to advance 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. The grants, totaling $100,000, will fund projects focused on multilingual, multimodal machine learning, specifically generative and large language models.
KAUST Academy is focused on developing talent in the field of artificial intelligence with programs focused on external learners. (included)
Ahmed says the Kingdom's investment in artificial intelligence spans multiple sectors, integrating into healthcare, robotics, manufacturing and services — introducing new roles that require a mix of technical and analytical skills.
“This interdisciplinary addition will greatly expand employment 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 2023 report.
To ensure that educational outcomes are aligned with labor market needs, the Saudi Human Resource Development Program has set out to revise higher education degrees based on recent and expected employment outcomes.
“Learning these in-demand skills will prepare Saudi citizens for success in the technology economy, with HCDP's emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving and technical expertise,” Ahmed said.
