Practices and challenges of internationalization of higher education in Saudi Arabia under the background of national transformation

National transformation is Saudi Arabia’s main goal in the 21st century. Since King Salman Ben Abdul Aziz Al Saud ascended the throne in 2015, the Saudi government has deeply realized that the country’s future sustainable development relies on knowledge, innovation, and the development of human capital. Additionally, the Saudi government recognizes the important role that higher education plays in international cooperation and enhancing national competitiveness. However, influenced by traditional educational concepts, Saudi higher education is severely disconnected from market needs, resulting in a continuous rise in domestic unemployment. This gap hampers Saudi Arabia’s ability to drive economic transformation and deeply integrate into the global economy with internationally competitive human resources. For these reasons, Saudi Arabia has embarked on an extensive national transformation under the “Vision 2030” framework, focusing on economic diversification, social secularization, talent modernization, and educational internationalization. Saudi Arabia’s practice of higher education internationalization includes adjusting university governance models, establishing various scholarship programs, engaging in international cooperation in higher education, reforming higher education curricula, and enacting favorable policies to encourage the establishment of foreign branch campuses. The country aims to balance internationalization standards with local characteristics, reconcile traditional centralization with academic freedom, and combine efforts from public and private institutions. By using high-quality private institutions as pilot projects, Saudi Arabia seeks to promote the coordinated development of the higher education system and national society.