Since the 1940s, Saudi Arabia has funded large-scale government scholarships for students to study abroad, significantly expanded in 2005 under King Abdullah. For years, Western degrees were seen as a clear pathway to success, with tens of thousands of Saudis—many of them women—studying at leading universities in North America, Europe, and Australasia.
That dynamic is now shifting. Enrollment of Saudis studying abroad peaked at around 100,000 in 2019 and has since fallen sharply. Tighter scholarship policies, concerns about safety and immigration abroad, growing domestic opportunities, and a strong inward cultural turn linked to Vision 2030 are all reshaping student choices.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia faces the need to expand higher education capacity by around 40% by 2030. Domestic universities are gaining credibility, particularly in STEM and AI, while the government and private investors are actively exploring international branch campuses and global partnerships. Riyadh is positioning itself as a new regional education hub, with industry-linked, modern curricula increasingly valued over traditional markers of prestige such as Western degrees or English-language credentials.
