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THE KGSP

KGSP Announces New Recruitment Strategy for Cohort 17

The KAUST Gifted Student Program (KGSP), in preparation for the recruitment of its seventeenth cohort of students, is officially announcing changes that herald a new era for the Program and the students it serves. These changes build upon the historic success of the KGSP and KAUST’s youth talent development programs in preparing talented Saudi youth for elite academic opportunities around the world before returning them to KAUST for graduate studies and onwards to an elevated, graduate-level career in the Kingdom or internationally.

With the start of the Cohort 17 recruitment cycle, the KGSP will no longer admit students for pre-university Foundation Year programs, instead requiring that all candidates have valid offers to undergraduate universities of high value, with an emphasis on those that the Ministry of Education (MOE) designates as approved for the Arruaad pathway of the Kingdom of the Two Holy Mosques scholarship. With this change, the KGSP is also seeking students who are accepted to study at any university in the world designated for the Arruaad pathway, including those not located in the United States.

It is expected that all students joining the KGSP do so in alignment with one of the sixteen (16) KAUST graduate fields-of-study or The (TIE) Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Masters at KAUST and that they pursue an undergraduate field-of-study which is congruous to entering KAUST as a graduate student. Degrees of study with a major focus which is not congruent to a direct graduate pathway to KAUST will not be entertained.

These changes, set to be shared with select partners and the broader Saudi community this week, reflects both the remarkable advancements in Saudi pre-university education and a greater alignment with the Kingdom’s global priorities in Vision 2030, positioning Saudi Arabia as a prominent global player.

Applications to join KGSP’s Cohort 17 will open Sunday, January 12th, 2025 and the form will close on Saturday, February 8th, 2025. Applicants will be allowed to submit updates to test scores and University admissions after the submission of the application form.  Any interested student applicant who has not submitted the application form by February 8th, 2025 will not be considered for admission.

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STUDENT PROFILE 

KGSP students represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s future scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and thought-leaders. As both individuals and as a community, they reflect the KAUST mission of driving scientific discovery through excellence in education and cutting-edge research, and share a commitment to fostering innovation, economic development, and social prosperity throughout the Kingdom and the world.  

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ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS

Selection to the KGSP is extremely competitive, and currently by invitation only. Successful applicants are Saudi Arabian students in their final year of high school who demonstrate impressive academic credentials within STEM fields, meaningful extra-curricular achievements, and who share the KAUST ethos of continuous discovery.  Learn more here.

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KGSP ADMINISTRATION

The KGSP is administered by KAUST Academy under the leadership of Dr. Sultan Al-Barakati. KAUST Academy is mandated by KAUST to support the acceleration of Saudi Arabia's knowledge-based economy by providing world class training programs in emerging technologies aligned with Vision 2030. KAUST Academy crafts these unique learning interventions by exporting the intellectual DNA acquired by KAUST for the benefit of the entire Kingdom.