Cambridge Partnership for Education to explore collaboration on education reform in KSA

Photo: The agreement is confirmed by His Excellency Deputy Minister for Investors Outreach, Badr I. AlBadr, and Annie Michailidou, Deputy Director of Global Engagement, Cambridge Partnership for Education, witnessed by His Excellency Khalid A. Al-Falih, Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia, and Sir Steve Smith, the United Kingdom Prime Minister's Special Representative to Saudi Arabia.

The agreement was confirmed following the Future Investment Initiative with Sir Steve Smith, the United Kingdom Prime Minister's Special Representative to Saudi Arabia for Education, and Chad Woodward, Director of Trade & Investment at the British Embassy in Saudi Arabia, in attendance. 

The potential work will focus on creating change for Saudi children in K-12 public schools, including in curriculum, assessment, publishing in the Arabic medium and English as a second language, as well as teacher and capacity development and policy and roadmap formulation. 

Cambridge Partnership for Education works with governments and international development organisations across the world to help improve education for all children.

“This reinforces the UK’s ambition with our International Education Strategy.”

Sir Steve Smith
 

His Excellency Khalid A. Al-Falih, Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia said: "We are pleased to collaborate with Cambridge Partnership for Education and to facilitate expanding their footprint in the Kingdom on multiple exciting projects. This collaboration will aim to draw on their expertise to inform the reforms of our education in the Kingdom. It is essential that young Saudis are able to access high quality education that prepares them for jobs of the future that we now have and will continue to create under Vision 2030.  Alongside our colleagues in the Kingdom’s education ecosystem, we have an ambitious vision to transform education to drive a more dynamic, diverse and sustainable economy. That means embedding innovative solutions that involve quality and agile partnerships for success with the best institutions in the world, such as Cambridge Partnership for Education, to do so."

Annie Michailidou, Deputy Director of Global Engagement, Cambridge Partnership for Education, said: “This is a pivotal moment for education reform in KSA, and we want to harness a shared resolve to promote innovation and to raise standards. The energy and potential of young Saudis is inspirational. We are committed to helping them create new opportunities and tackle global challenges from sustainability and climate change to equality and conflict resolution.”

Sir Steve Smith, the UK’s International Education Champion, said: “I am delighted with this partnership between Cambridge Partnership for Education and the Ministry of Investment. This has the potential to generate significant social prosperity through educational reform, which will directly contribute to the quality of education for students. This reinforces the UK’s ambition with our International Education Strategy, under which Saudi Arabia is one of our five priority countries.”

More than half of people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are under 25 years old. The country’s national vision is focused on improving the learning environment to stimulate creativity and innovation, improving curricula and teaching methods, and instilling values and core skills like tolerance, excellence, equity, transparency and critical thinking.  

This includes efforts to prepare the next generation for the jobs of the future, promoting people’s wellbeing, providing equal opportunities – especially for women, and achieving environmental sustainability. Researchers have found that for every further year of schooling girls receive, their country’s resilience to climate disasters improves dramatically. 

The Future Investment Initiative (FII) took place in Riyadh from 25 October 2022, bringing together global CEOs, policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs, educators and young leaders to shape the future of international investment and the global economy.