Saudi private education market set to double in value by 2023, says report

Saudi Arabia’s private K-12 education market is set to more than double in value over the coming few years, from $5 billion currently to over $12 billion by 2023, Strategic Gears Management Consultancy forecasts in a report.

The report Growth Potential of Private Education in Saudi Arabia added that the growth in the market is being fueled by an increase in population, the government’s Vision 2030 education initiatives, and changing consumer (parents) mindsets.

“Saudi Arabia’s current private education market is valued at $5 billion, only slightly greater than the UAE’s which is at $4.3 billion. Given that Saudi Arabia’s population is more than 3 times larger than the UAE’s indicates the huge potential for growth,” the report added.

Further, talking about private international schools, Saudi Arabia only has 7 international schools per 1 million people, while the GCC average is 31 international schools per 1 million people. This indicates the huge potential that the Saudi private education market has, particularly for high quality schools that offer international curriculums.

While the GDP per capita for both Saudi And UAE has dropped over the past 5 years, consumer expenditure on education for Saudi Arabia has risen by 13 percent over the same period and has decreased for the UAE by 18 percent, the report noted.

While maintaining that education plays a key role in achieving Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 targets, the report noted that improving the access and quality of education would create a thriving economy by enabling the population to meet growing labor market demands.

In 2016, the Saudi government developed the National Transformation Program 2020 to fulfill some of the objectives of Vision 2030.

As part of the plan, the ministry of education was tasked with 8 key objectives to transform the education industry in Saudi Arabia, which in turn would strengthen the economy and provide the Saudi citizens with the key skills to become more competitive in the local and global labor market.

There are approximately 7.7 million students in Saudi Arabia, out of which 6.7 million (87 percent) attend public schools and 1 million (13 percent) attend private schools. There are a total of 30,625 schools in Saudi Arabia, out of which 26,248 (86 percent) are public and 4,377 (14 percent) are private, the report noted.

Between the years 2013 and 2017, the number of private schools grew by 13 percent, while the number of public schools grew by 1 percent.

However, it added that when compared to the UAE, Saudi Arabia’s education market faces more fundamental challenges such as the quality of curriculums and teachers, which needs to be addressed first if the country aims to build a thriving knowledge based economy.