Washington- The new phase of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program, launched by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, in March 2022, represents the Kingdom's strategic commitment to human capital development, prioritising placement at leading global institutions in line with Vision 2030. This phase is driving remarkable results, with the number of Saudi students in the Pioneers and Excellence tracks more than doubling, including 1,165 students now studying at the top 30 universities on the Shanghai Ranking.
Saudi Cultural Attaché to the US and Canada, Dr Tahany Albaiz, highlighted the success of this shift, noting that the Kingdom now ranks second in the number of international undergraduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has a strong presence at other elite universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton. She confirmed that this focus on innovation hubs shifts the entire scholarship paradigm toward developing national talent capable of driving Vision 2030 across all sectors. The Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the US, which oversees 14,037 Saudi students in American universities, manages the largest Saudi scholarship program in recent history and serves as a vital bridge for nearly 89 institutional cooperation agreements between Saudi and American universities.
According to Albaiz, the healthcare sector has particularly benefited, with 8,036 Saudi physicians and healthcare practitioners on scholarships and graduating in the US and Canada between 2020 and 2025. This growth is accelerating: the number of health program graduates in Canada is expected to rise by 256% from 2020 to 2025 and by 62% in the US. The Kingdom's financial investment in US medical training alone amounted to approximately $21.2 million for 2023–2025, reflecting a strategic decision to invest in long-term clinical and research training. This expansion, particularly in advanced specialities like oncology and cardiac surgery, is driven by continuous support from the wise leadership and collaborative efforts to enhance the readiness of the Saudi healthcare system and link specialised training directly to national sector needs.
Further cementing its global partnership, the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the US affirmed the strategic importance of the Saudi-US relationship, noting that HRH the Crown Prince's current visit underscores the educational and scientific dimension. This partnership is poised for further growth, with the recent licensing of two American universities—the University of New Haven and Arizona State University—to open branches in the Kingdom, signalling a commitment to building a knowledge-based economy and developing Saudi human capital to the highest global standards.
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