Riyadh: UK Minister of State for Skills and Member of the House of Lords Baroness Jacqui Smith praised the Saudi model for ensuring and regulating the quality of education and training. She also commended the achievements accomplished by the Kingdom through the Education and Training Evaluation Commission, or ETEC, in advancing data use in supporting education and training quality, in addition to driving sustainable improvement and facilitating evidence-based decision-making. Smith’s remarks came during her visit on Friday to the commission’s headquarters, where she met ETEC’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr. Khalid Al-Sabti and was briefed on the Saudi model for ensuring and regulating the quality of education and training, particularly through the Education and Training Status Room. The minister expressed her admiration for the ETEC’s capabilities in collecting and analyzing data across the education and training evaluation system and transforming it into indicators and information that support evaluation, improvement and decision-making processes. Smith said that the true value of data went beyond performance measurement of success level evaluation to underpin improvement and help educational institutions to identify strengths and opportunities for development. Commenting on what she witnessed during her visit, Smith said that it was “exceptionally impressive.” The minister further stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation and sharing expertise between Saudi Arabia and the UK in education, skills and quality, in addition to developing ties between institutions to support the exchange of expertise and experiences and the development of skills needed for labor market demands and the future economy. During her visit, Smith was introduced to the Education and Training Status Room and its advanced platform for reviewing and analyzing educational and training data and connecting related indicators. This enables a comprehensive understanding of the education system, supports evaluation and decision-making and improves outcomes. The minister also noted that the UK education system could benefit from ETEC’s experience in the effective and precise use of data. The minister’s recognition reflects the achievements of the Saudi model for ensuring and regulating the quality of education and training, particularly through the Education and Training Status Room providing accurate data and advanced analytical capabilities to drive continuous improvement and tangible impact. ETEC presented its experience with the Education and Training Status Room under the title “Saudi Arabia: Using data to build a workforce ready for the future,” as part of the Human Capital Network knowledge exchange series organized by the World Bank Group. The event, held in coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Planning, saw the participation of representatives from about 100 countries. These initiatives are part of the transformation phase of the Kingdom’s education and training evaluation system, integrating evaluation, measurement, accreditation and data, in addition to using evaluation results to drive continuous improvement in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, human capital development, and enhancing workforce readiness for the future. The UK minister for skills’ visit reflects growing interest in the Saudi experience in ensuring and regulating the quality of education and training, in addition to evaluation, quality, data and skills development. It also highlights opportunities for knowledge and expertise exchange and closer cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the UK in building education and training systems that are better equipped to meet future demands. ETEC’s experience has also drawn the attention of the World Bank, which commended the Kingdom’s efforts in advancing the education system and its model for ensuring and regulating the quality of education and training. The World Bank also recognized the Kingdom’s development and implementation of evaluation, measurement and accreditation systems that harness technology and data to drive impact. The World Bank further highlighted the Saudi model’s role in integrating the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams with the National Program for School Evaluation, Classification and Accreditation, fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement across schools and using evaluation results in enhancing educational practices and improving the quality of outcomes.