How did the largest overseas scholarship programme in history narrow the gender capabilities gap in Saudi Arabia?

Abstract

Over the last 14 years, Saudi Arabia's flagship state-funded study abroad programme, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Overseas Scholarship Programme (henceforth, KASP or the Programme), matured and embedded itself in the educational ecosystem of Saudi Arabia. This chapter reviews the design, implementation, and direct outcomes of KASP since its inception in 2005 from the vantage point of empowering Saudi women. KASP has been by far the most generous of all state-sponsored overseas scholarship programmes in the world in terms of the resources committed to the Programme relative to the total education budget. The Saudi state funded 215,000 KASP scholarship awards between 2005 and 2018 – accounting for 2/3rd of all outbound Saudi students. Perhaps, the three most idiosyncratic features of the Programme that make KASP unlike any other state-funded study abroad programme consisted: (a) The magnitude of state-funding of students already pursuing their studies abroad with their own resources, (b) the requirement for female scholarship holders to have a male guardian/mahram accompanying the scholarship recipients throughout their stay abroad, and (c) a job guarantee for the majority of scholarship holders under the Your Job, Your Scholarship Scheme in effect since 2015. Some other features common across other scholarship programmes initiated by other Gulf monarchies included: The number of state-sponsored students relative to the total body of outbound students from the kingdom as well as relative to the size of the kingdom's tertiary level population; generous scholarships for undergraduate studies; financial support for accompanying family members and companions of principal scholarship holders; generous funding of in-house academic advisors within Saudi Cultural Missions abroad to monitor and advise scholarship recipients; scholarships for companions of principal scholarship holders to enrol in certificate courses and degree programmes; and generous funding of intensive English language studies abroad prior to admission into regular academic programmes. While certain fields of study were excluded from the scholarship programme for all students, restrictions on women's choice of fields have been tighter. As a supply-driven programme, KASP shared many strengths and weaknesses of such programmes. During the Third Phase (2015–2019), the scholarship has shown tighter linkages with the perceived future labour market needs as projected in the framework of Vision 2030. KASP has been pivotal in increasing the share of outbound Saudi female students. KASP offered a broader menu of curricular choices and a significantly improved and supportive academic environment to Saudi female students. The marginal benefits of the Programme to women are expected to greatly outweigh those to men. It is expected to contribute to the generation of a critical mass of highly skilled Saudi professional women equipped with globally accepted behavioural norms. KASP is expected to be a vehicle of feminisation of the workforce and diversification of the economy at the higher end of the skills spectrum.