UNESCO Report 2026: The Evolution of University Education in Saudi Arabia
The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2026 commended the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's remarkable efforts, recognizing it as a leading global model in post-secondary education enrollment rates. Based on 2024 data from university education in Saudi Arabia a qualitative transformation and rapid growth over the past decade, reflecting the Kingdom's unwavering commitment to developing human capital and building an advanced knowledge-based society.
Roots of Renaissance: Vision 2030 and the Development of University Education in Saudi Arabia
This exceptional achievement did not come about by chance, but rather is the culmination of a historic journey of massive government investment in the education sector. Since the launch of Saudi Vision 2030, the wise leadership has placed the development of the education system at the forefront of its priorities through the “Human Capacity Development Program.” Historically, the Kingdom has moved from relying on a limited number of central universities to establishing a vast network that today includes more than 70 public and private universities and colleges covering all regions of the Kingdom. This well-planned expansion has provided a fertile environment to accommodate the increasing numbers of high school graduates and guide them towards specialized fields that meet the needs of the future labor market.
Record numbers and unprecedented gender parity
The Kingdom recorded an enrollment rate of 83.88% in post-secondary education for the year 2024. Data from the Kingdom, based on the UNESCO Institute for Statistics database, indicates near-perfect gender parity at 1.01. The number of students enrolled in higher education also increased to 1.57 million. The report showed remarkable growth in disciplines related to the knowledge economy, and the gender gap narrowed from 20 percentage points in 2006 to just 5 points in 2022, with the expectation of it disappearing entirely by 2024, accompanied by a slight increase in the enrollment rate for girls.
Digital Innovation: E-Learning and Blended Learning
The report highlighted that e-learning and blended learning were among the most successful solutions developed by the Kingdom to remove barriers for girls and various segments of society to access higher education. The enrollment rate of girls at the Saudi Electronic University nearly doubled between 2018 and 2024. This announcement coincided with the Ministry of Education's participation in the high-level event launching the report at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Overall impact: Quality of outputs and regional and international influence
Domestically, this development contributes to supplying the labor market with qualified national talent to lead the transition to a knowledge-based economy. Regionally and internationally, this growth reinforces the Kingdom's position as a leading educational destination in the Middle East. Engineer Saad bin Abdulghani Al-Ghamdi, Deputy Minister for Planning, reviewed the Kingdom's efforts to enhance access to education while ensuring the quality of educational outcomes, launching the "Qubool" platform to guarantee equal admission opportunities, and exceeding the enrollment rate in technical and vocational education by 30% by 2024.
Al-Ghamdi also highlighted the successes of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program, which includes more than 56,000 scholarship recipients, aligning with the domestic expansion of universities. In addition, the number of beneficiaries of the “Study in Saudi Arabia” platform has reached 200,000 international students, reflecting the global appeal of Saudi education, coinciding with efforts to attract prestigious international universities to open branches within the Kingdom.
Global academic excellence and scientific research
In a related context, and with regard to academic excellence, the Undersecretary for Planning pointed out that King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals achieved a ranking of 67 globally according to the QS ranking, and that Saudi universities entered the list of the top 100 universities globally based on the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) report and based on data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for 2025. Reflecting the growing research and innovation environment, the percentage of female graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs rose to 45.6% in 2024, which consolidates the Kingdom’s position as a rising scientific power and influential on the international stage.
