The United States of America has topped the world countries in receiving Saudi students of King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program by 30%, followed by Britain with 15%, Canada 11% and Australia 08%, registering more than 84,000 Saudi males and females on scholarships while the number of the first Saudi student mission to the United States in 1947 was made up of (30) students enrolled at the University of Texas. The total number of Saudis studying in universities across the United States of America exceeds 125,000 Saudi males and females on scholarships and their companions, as well as students studying at their own expense and staff on scholarships to benefit from the scientific expertise of which the global prestigious universities are full, including the American Universities, supervised by Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission which was established in the United States for more than 60 years. This move comes as part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's interest, since its inception by the late King Abdulaziz Al Saud, in education as an important pillar of the Saudi human building, so that the leaders of this blessed country have gone on this approach until the current era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud who has spared no effort to support education and the educated in various disciplines. So, in the framework of this interest, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, met during his official visit to the United States of America in 2015 with a gathering of Saudi distinguished students in American universities, as he was keen to meet them though his visit's agenda was very busy, and he was reassured about their conditions, expressing pride of the Kingdom's distinguished students in the educational aspects. During 2016, King Salman bin Abdulaziz announced launching "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030" for the purpose of upgrading the performance of all government and private sectors and to achieve sustainable development of the country, from which the "National Transformation Program 2020" emanated. It is the program whose details were adopted along with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, chaired by the Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, second Deputy Premier and Defense Minister, and its axes focused on the development of education system, with a budget exceeding SR 24 billion. --More 19:38 LOCAL TIME 16:38 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1630486
