The King Abdullah Scholarship Program and the Change in the Saudi Arabian Education System

In the year 2005, the late King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud came up with a concern that had to do with the sustainable development in the entire Saudi Arabia. He did this by establishing the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP). The program had great visions that made the government to support it under the Ministry of Education (MOE). The program had an intention of supporting the public and other sectors in gaining some qualifications and preparations regarding the human resource. The initiative was to work by first having good relations with the then American President George W. Bush so that he could allow more Saudi Arabian students to go study in the United States of America. After the agreement, Saudi Arabia sent 9, 252 students to study different courses.

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The courses that the students were supposed to undertake were in the fields of nursing, medicine, dentistry. Pharmacy, business, engineering. Law, finance, accounting, psychology, marketing, hospitality, natural sciences, E-commerce, computer science, education, and digital media. In that case, the students would develop and become learned based on scientific research and ways of making Saudi Arabia a country with better economy and infrastructural development. In most cases people speak in English and therefore the students were supposed to gain some fluency in the language so as to express themselves well. Even though the program was important and led to some progress, the education system in Saudi Arabia still needs an improvement and transformation. The process of transforming should take around 12 months as all the necessary resources are available.

Change in the Saudi Arabian Education System under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program

Case studies indicate that the education system and curriculum that exists in Saudi Arabia is weak when it comes to the achievement of goals and development of the country. The curriculum has a total orientation towards education and factors that do not support the development of people individually and improvement of standards of living. In addition to this, the universities that provide higher education are not on par with the 200 colleges that high-quality education. In that case, students that come from the schools are not in the right position to work in companies and organizations that support economic development. Therefore, it is evident that the education system of Saudi Arabia needs a total change because the vision that is in existence is ambitious and lacks pillars to support its achievement.

While coming up with the modification regarding the Saudi Arabian Education System, some people and departments need to take part in it. For instance, the students need to participate in acting as sources of primary data when looking at the specific sectors of education that need change. Others are those who are in the workforce, and most of them are parents. They are crucial in this case as they have an experience of how the economy is and the obstacles that exist as they try to make ends meet (Hallinger, 2003). The government and leaders in the education department are also an inclusion of this change as they provide funds and resources that are necessary to make everything right and possible.

The workforce in Saudi Arabia has an education which is on religious platforms, and this is why many mosques are mushrooming in the entire country. Most of the graduates in the country are educated only in Islam but are poor when it comes to biology, mathematics and information and communication technology. As a country, it will not be easy to attain or meet the requirements of vision 2030 as long as its population is full of the unskilled or uneducated workforce. In the current state, Saudi Arabia has an intention of achieving economic diversification and development which is sustainable in nature. For such missions and goals to gain an achievement, the education system will have to change and reform. Quality education comes with positive social implications that have value and of much importance as people develop creative thoughts that are key regarding initiation of change.

A change in the education system of Saudi Arabia is essential and should focus on curriculum development, building skills and advancement in higher education. The 200 universities in international ranking are at high levels, and this achievement is possible with the use of a professional group of people. The change in the education system, therefore, needs planners to sit down and identify the five universities that need an upgrade. The planners should also come up with standards that they will follow, establish the global indicators of quality education and develop some job specifications for different fields in education. The primary goal, in this case, is creating an economy which is knowledge-based and also people rely on the skills and capabilities instead of concentrating on the physical inputs and resources that exist from an individual's perspective.

Change Plan in the Education Change System

There are various ways of coming up with a plan if at all change is the central theme or issue of discussion. The program needs to be applicable and bear aspects that are familiar to every participant or individual. If the solution to the issue is complex and ambitious in some way, then the plan needs to make everything accessible and achievable in the shortest time possible. For instance, the Kotter's 8 Step Change Model highlights that the first phase of initiating a change in a sector such as education one needs to increase the urgency for change. The second one is building a team which has a complete dedication to change followed by a vision for change. The next one is communicating the reason as to why people need the change and empower all the staff, parents, and government with the ability to implement it. The last stage is coming up with short term and achievable goals which are persistent and permanent. Below is a diagrammatic Title of the Change Initiative

Establishment of a change team

Developing and communicating of visions

Development of Urgency for Educational Reforms

Establishment of short term change goals

Incorporation of change

Title of the Change Initiative

Establishment of a change team

Developing and communicating of visions

Development of Urgency for Educational Reforms

Establishment of short term change goals

Incorporation of change

illustration of the change plan applicable in this case:

Development or urgency for educational reforms

In this step, the first activity will be making a research of the areas that need a change regarding education. It will be accompanied by a creation of urgency among the Saudi Arabian people so that they can develop a motivation that will drive them towards the need of change. For instance, it will entail the use of non-governmental organizations to campaign and enlighten people on some of the weaknesses that the current system bears and reasons as to why it needs a change.

Establishment of a change team

In this stage, the team to take part in the initiation of the change will entail the students, teachers, parents, the government and the relevant stakeholders. The team will have to fill some questionnaires to provide the areas that need critical adjustments and also avail their consent regarding the change that is about to take place. They will also form a group that will oversee the application of the new initiatives.

Communication of the Vision

Since a team now exists for initiation of change, they will have to communicate the vision of the education changes and persuade the public to back them up. Communication is important because the public needs to have a clue of whatever the government is presenting to them. For instance, since it is clear that the King Abdullah Scholarship Program serves only a few people, the people will get a notification that there is an expansion program that intends ensure most of the youth go abroad to get an education to help in further changing of the curriculum.

Establishment of Short-term goals

Short term goal is important as they assist in achieving the primary goals after a short period. In this case, since there are difficulties in upgrading all the five universities at once, the short-term goal will need only two of them first. The two will be easy to choose as the change team will have come up with the priorities in that line. With an upgrade of the two, the last three will be easy to update as they will apply the techniques used in the previous amendments. The curriculum will also have an inclusion in the short term goals. For instance, since the current system has a religious basis and teaching of Islam, the first implementation will take care of mathematics and sciences. The two will act as tests to check whether the rest will offer useful results.

Incorporation of change.

In this last stage, evaluations will be the main activities. Since the short term goals are underway, they will act as indicators of whether the rest will be applicable. The change will now take care of the remaining projects as the public will now have a visible impact of the new changes in education. For instance, immediately the curriculum changes and two universities are upgraded, the quality of teaching provided will make them offer support to the remaining projects. Since this is a long-term project, its completion will occur in phases.

Create a Change Team

Incorporation of Feedback from Personnel

Reviewing of the Action Plan with Experts

Writing of the Action Plan

Development of a Communication Plan

Plan for Continuous Improvement

Development of Implementation Plan

Designing of Plan to test Team Effectiveness

Definition of the Team Intervention

Definition of the Teams Aim and Intervention

Statement of Problem and challenges

Identification of Priorities, the problem and the challenges in the previous step

Create a Change Team

Incorporation of Feedback from Personnel

Reviewing of the Action Plan with Experts

Writing of the Action Plan

Development of a Communication Plan

Plan for Continuous Improvement

Development of Implementation Plan

Designing of Plan to test Team Effectiveness

Definition of the Team Intervention

Definition of the Teams Aim and Intervention

Statement of Problem and challenges

Identification of Priorities, the problem and the challenges in the previous step

Diagram illustrating the Steps to follow while implementing the change in Education System.

Step 1: Creation of Change Team

The main idea is to have a group of people who will act as executive sponsors, senior leaders, and also be on the front line when it comes to explain to people what to do based on the problem at hand.

Step 2: Statement of Problem and challenges

In this case, the problem is specifically explained and the challenges that might come up while solving are also targeted to as to enhance the teamwork as a whole.

Step 3: Definition of the Teams Aim and Intervention

The main objective here is to state the terms that the whole team should achieve. For instance, each member will have to handle a given sector of the education system that seem to have weak links and strengthen them.

Step 4: Definition of the Team Intervention

The objective in this case will be to come up with intervention that avail the problem, the opportunities and the obstacles based on the main goal. For instance, the Saudi Arabian Leaders will have to learn the importance of change and help in creating room for the same.

Step 5: Designing of Plan to test Team Effectiveness

Designing the plan to test for effectiveness of the team will ensure that everyone is eligible to carry out the task. For instance, those i...