Saudi Arabia: King Abdullah’s education legacy leaves its mark on the kingdom

One of King Salman Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud’s first moves on succeeding his half-brother Abdullah in January was to abolish the Ministry of Higher Education, merging it with the Ministry of Education, under the latter’s name. It was a move that provoked a few gasps, given the importance Abdullah placed on education, seeming at first glance to portend the reining in of the some of the late king’s ambitious reforms. Yet the way Saudi educational leaders have sought to spin it, Salman’s move was not about smothering his predecessor’s strategic intent to have education drive societal change.