Making Saudi vision 2030 a reality through educational transformation at the university level

ABSTRACT One of the major aims of Saudi Vision 2030 is to create a dynamic, diverse and sustainable economy by generating employment opportunities for young Saudis. As Education sector plays a pivotal role in boosting economy of a country, the National Transformation Program (“NTP”) has laid down objectives to transform the education system with special focus on: 1. Improving recruitment, training and development of teachers, 2. Improving curricula and teaching methods. 3. Improving values and core skills and 4. Enhancing creativity and innovation. Based on the objectives laid by the NTP, the study aims to find the existing gaps between the present curricula and teaching methods in five major private and public universities of Saudi Arabia. It aims to identify the labour market needs with consideration to the six gigaprojects introduced by Saudi Arabia under economic diversification program and, provide guidelines for skills matching. The study adopts a triangular approach: interviews, documentation analysis and, Survey. Based on the results obtained and gaps identified, the researchers recommend taking into account, employers’ needs and the learners’ skill enhancement capabilities while formulating future educational programs to empower Saudi young generation to compete with international labor force and retain their monopoly in the saudi market.