RIYADH: The United Kingdom’s Minister of State for Skills and House of Lords member Baroness Jacqui Smith has praised Saudi Arabia’s approach to education and training quality assurance.
During a meeting with Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) Chairman Dr Khalid Al-Sabti in Riyadh, Baroness Smith reviewed the Kingdom’s data-driven approach to evaluation, accreditation and continuous institutional improvement, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday.
She also visited ETEC’s education and training status room, an operations centre that collects and analyses system-wide data to support evidence-based policymaking and decision-making. She noted that the UK could draw valuable lessons from the commission’s effective use of data.
وزيرة الدولة للمهارات البريطانية تشيد بالنموذج السعودي لضمان وضبط جودة التعليم والتدريب وتوظيف البيانات لدعم التحسين.https://t.co/D32ymUVzDG#واس pic.twitter.com/So22CUIpvY
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The British minister stressed the importance of expanding bilateral cooperation and exchanging expertise in education, skills development, and accreditation standards to ensure workforce capabilities keep pace with emerging economic demands.
The visit comes amid growing international recognition of ETEC’s quality-assurance framework. The commission recently presented its experience, titled “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Using Data to Build a Future-Ready Workforce”, to representatives from around 100 countries at a World Bank Human Capital Project Network knowledge-sharing forum held in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
The World Bank has also commended Saudi Arabia’s integration of national NAFS assessments with school classification and accreditation programmes, highlighting the use of technology to improve educational outcomes and support the human capability development objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
Oxford Business Group highlights Saudi Arabia’s education transformation
Meanwhile, Oxford Business Group, in its recent report, has highlighted the structural transformations underway in Saudi Arabia’s education sector, identifying teacher professional development as a central pillar in developing a future-ready education system.
The report, published in partnership with the Ministry of Education, noted the Kingdom’s transition from high-level strategic planning to system-wide implementation under Saudi Vision 2030 and the Human Capability Development Programme, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
It highlighted curriculum updates, stronger governance, equitable access to education, and the role of specialised institutions in developing the Kingdom’s human capital.
Within this framework, the National Institute for Educational Professional Development serves as the country’s primary national body for enhancing educators’ skills.
The institute is working to shift professional development from one-off training workshops towards continuous programmes that respond to classroom needs and incorporate modern teaching practices.
By establishing sustainable career pathways and adapting international benchmarks to the local education landscape, the institute continues to expand its initiatives and partnerships to improve teaching quality and prepare future generations for the Kingdom’s evolving needs.
