The agreement will also provide opportunities for Saudi students to pursue higher studies in Finland, which has topped the list of global rankings in terms of quality of education and the best-rated educational system.
“The agreement was signed by Minister of Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari and Finland's Minister of Education Henna Virkkunen in Helsinki,” said Mikko Potsonen, deputy chief at Finland's mission in Riyadh on Thursday.
“The MoU was signed during the official visit of Al-Anqari to Finland,” added Mikko. “The main aim of the MoU is to promote educational cooperation and to strengthen ties between the education ministries of the two countries.”
Welcoming the new formal collaboration in education sector, an embassy statement released on this occasion said: “Finland's long standing tradition as a provider of quality education is backed by the high standards of our education services, internationally-recognized qualifications and worldwide reputation or our training and research.”
Finland’s educational capabilities provide an excellent match with the requirements of the Kingdom's dynamic economic development, it added.
This milestone agreement places Finland's education sector in a strong position to assist Saudi Arabia meet its education requirements including students enrollment in Finnish universities and research collaboration, said the statement. The agreement is the result of Helsinki's strategy to attract international students to Finland for postgraduate and undergraduate studies and to broaden the network of research partnerships.