King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has published an economic impact assessment estimating that it generates US$5.6 billion in economic value for Saudi Arabia each year, about SAR 21 billion.
The university announced the KAUST Economic Impact Assessment on 7 October, describing it as independent. KAUST says its activity supports about 28,800 full-time-equivalent jobs across the Kingdom and that its direct contribution to Saudi GDP is about US$2.2 billion. On its impact web page, the university puts the return to the Saudi economy at US$5.20 for every US$1 invested.
The university behind the KAUST economic impact figure
KAUST was established in 2009 as a graduate research university, with research focused on food, water, energy and the environment, according to its own description. It offers master’s and doctoral programmes, and says more than 120 nationalities live, work and study on its campus. Unlike the British universities whose methods it cites, it has no undergraduate teaching to count, so the value it claims runs mainly through research, its own spending, the companies it supports and the graduates it sends into the Saudi economy.
How the figure is built
According to KAUST, the assessment applies internationally established approaches to measuring university impact, drawing on methods used by institutions including Oxford and Cambridge. It counts value created through research, graduates, startups and wider university activity, uses conservative assumptions and adjusts for overlaps between these channels to avoid double counting.
The news release and the impact page do not name the firm that prepared the assessment, state the year the figures relate to or give the level of public funding against which the US$5.20 return is calculated. KAUST President Sir Edward Byrne said in the release that the figures show the university’s significant contribution to the Saudi economy.
The assessment is published alongside the KAUST Impact Report, which uses case studies on research, education, innovation and partnerships. One example the university cites is its algal biotechnology work, which is being scaled through a 42,000-square-metre facility to explore high-protein biomass for animal feed.
What the full KAUST economic impact assessment shows
The impact page links to the full assessment, a 59-page document that answers two of those questions. It says the study was undertaken by L.E.K. Consulting, which KAUST commissioned, and that it focuses primarily on the 2024-25 assessment period.
The document also shows how the headline was reached. Before any adjustment for overlap, L.E.K. puts the gross value of the channels it measured at about US$6.55 billion. The two largest are KAUST’s own operating expenditure, at about US$2.25 billion of economic value, and spinouts and startups, at about US$1.89 billion. Research spillovers add about US$895 million, capital expenditure about US$562 million and the extra lifetime earnings of graduates about US$293 million. Deducting the overlaps brings the total down to the US$5.6 billion of annual economic value that KAUST announced.
The assessment is careful about what the headline means. It describes total economic value as the overall activity supported across the economy, and says the US$2.2 billion of gross value added is the measure that aligns most closely with GDP. For scale, it puts KAUST’s operating expenditure in the 2025 financial year at about US$862.6 million and its total research spending in 2024-25 at about US$235.2 million. TED could not find in the document the investment figure behind the US$5.20 return quoted on the impact page.
How Oxford and Cambridge do the same sums
The comparison KAUST invites is a useful one. The University of Oxford says a study by London Economics put its contribution at around £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018-19, supporting more than 28,000 full-time jobs, according to the university’s summary. Research and knowledge transfer accounted for £7.9 billion of that, and every £1 invested in Oxford’s research and knowledge exchange generated £10.30 for the wider economy.
The University of Cambridge commissioned the same consultancy, which put its impact at about £29.8 billion in 2020-21, with a benefit-to-cost ratio of 11.7 to 1 against operating costs of about £2.543 billion and more than 86,000 jobs supported across the UK, according to London Economics. Research and knowledge exchange made up £23.1 billion of the total.
The ratios are built on different bases. Oxford’s £10.30 applies to research investment alone and Cambridge’s 11.7 to 1 to total operating costs, while the base for KAUST’s US$5.20 is not stated. None of the three can be compared directly, and the KAUST economic impact figure should be read with that in mind.
Startups, graduates and outreach
The impact page lists more than 425 ventures supported through the university’s startup pathway and more than 6,600 jobs generated across the Kingdom by those startups. It reports 3,675 alumni, and says 65% of Saudi graduates stay in the Kingdom and 15% of international graduates are retained. KAUST Academy, the university’s outreach programme, has reached more than 30,000 online learners and delivered more than 10,000 hours of in-person education, according to the same page.
The page does not say how many of the supported ventures are still trading, how much external capital they have raised, or how the graduate retention rates are measured.
What it means
TED analysis:
- Funding case: Economic impact studies are a familiar tool for UK universities making their case to government. KAUST is applying the same approach to a research university in the Gulf, giving ministries and its board a single jobs and GDP figure to set against public support.
- Comparability: Until the reference year, the author and the funding base behind the US$5.20 ratio are set out alongside the headline numbers, investors and officials should treat comparisons with UK impact studies with care and read the full assessment first.
- Talent: A 65% retention rate for Saudi graduates and 15% for international graduates gives other research universities in the Kingdom and the wider Gulf a benchmark for how many advanced graduates stay in the domestic labour market.
- Startups: The 425-plus ventures and 6,600 startup jobs are the figures most relevant to investors and corporate partners looking for deal flow from the university, but survival rates and capital raised are not disclosed.
