Saudi Gazette

MIT, one of the top universities in the world, wants to prepare the next generation of leaders who will make the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 a reality. For over a century, MIT has graduated some of the world's top minds, and Saudi graduates from MIT hosted Senior Director of admissions of MIT Sloan School of Business, Rod Garcia, in Riyadh to speak directly to young and ambitious Saudis to encourage them to apply to MIT.

"We were inspired by the tremendous turnout and interest and we will extend our support to any Saudis who want to apply to top schools,” Majid Al-Ibrahim, MIT graduate and one of the event organizers told Saudi Gazette. Omar Al-Madhi, an MIT graduate and co-organizer of the event, gave the opening remarks thanking the event’s partner, SABB for their support, and hoped to see many of the attendees join the MIT-Saudi Club community. The event took place at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh and was attended by more than 200 people.

“We had an amazing day. Many people came to the event before the event even started. The number of attendees exceeded our expectations. Saudi students now believe that the best investment is the investment in education. They were asking very mature and well-prepared questions. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and were not able to answer all their questions. I am very impressed to see their hunger for education and their inner drive to leave a mark in their community,” Garcia told Saudi Gazette in a short interview.

“One of the most encouraging aspects of this trip was to see the strong interest of Saudi women in our program,” he added.

About Saudi students, Garcia said, “The number of Saudi students is growing. That means a lot to us because MIT wants to prepare successful leaders who can contribute to the fast-paced, positive changes the Kingdom is currently witnessing. That is very inspirational to us as a university that believes in future generations of leaders and entrepreneurs.”

MIT has more than 86 Nobel laureates’ professors. There was also a recent study showing that MIT graduates founded over 36,000 companies. A study also showed that if MIT startups were an economy on their own, it would be the 10th largest economy in the world.

Regarding cooperation with Kingdom’s minister of education, universities, or other bodies of concern, Garcia added: “We now cooperate with China, Malaysia, Portugal, and we are very open to cooperate with stakeholders in the Kingdom to reach the best outcomes possible.”

When asked about what is the type of students MIT is looking for, he said: “MIT is looking for people with drive, and self-starters. We want people who have overcome challenges and obstacles. People who are willing to tackle and solve problems. People who plan and execute, having these two skills is vital. Also, we care about manners and ethics as well, so we look for people who are respectful and able to build relationships.”

“MIT focuses on both theory and practice. We are well-known for action learning methods. We give our students the opportunity to test theories in real settings, for instance: in our China Lab, we send a group of our students with a professor to China for few weeks. They go to a company that has issues or problems. The students need to think of how to solve issues for the company. In this setting, students get exposed to a different culture, new kinds of business challenges, and they will think of what theories they would adopt, and they will learn that some theories do not apply. They will eventually learn how to adjust your theories depending on the situation,” he added.

Garcia concluded by saying that all students should aim for the stars and not settle for less. “Surround yourself with the best people, learn from the best of the best. Learn from your failures by analyzing why what happened has happened. We are very optimistic about the future of the Kingdom. We are also optimistic about the future generation of the Kingdom. Impressive youth who are willing to build and contribute innovatively.”