Nunzio Quacquarelli, managing director of the QS World MBA Tour, the team behind a research report released yesterday, says, “Saudi Arabia saw a 21% increase in MBA hiring in 2011, lead by energy companies. The Middle East is expected to become a hot spot for MBA recruiting as economies such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait tries to steer their economies away from a dependency on oil towards becoming knowledge economies.”
Dr Abdulkader Alfantookh, vice-minister of higher education in Saudi Arabia says, “We are still in early stages of becoming a knowledge economy, but Saudi Arabia is investing in scholarships for 40,000 students a year to study undergraduate, masters and MBA degrees overseas, and we expect them to bring their knowledge back to companies within Saudi Arabia.” Full article