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Academic year 2026-2027

SDAIA AI scholarship

The Saudi Data and AI Authority's programme with the Ministry of Education: advising, research and training for AI and computer science scholars at 95 universities. It does not fund on its own: you need a Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques scholarship decision and an unconditional offer first.

Download the guide (PDF)Phone edition
First: this programme does not fund you on its own. SDAIA's own FAQ says that to apply you need both a final, unconditional offer from a listed university and a scholarship decision from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program (Rowad, Emdad and so on). You win the scholarship first, then apply to SDAIA for the extra advising, research and training layer.

How a student moves through it

  1. 1

    Choose a major in one of the 12 priority fields at a listed university.

  2. 2

    Get a final, unconditional offer.

  3. 3

    Get a scholarship decision from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program through the right track.

  4. 4

    Register with SDAIA via National Access (Nafath), then screening, interview and competitive selection, then the announcement and programme start.

Priority fields

The major or one of its branches counts. Electrical engineering is not on the list.

Artificial intelligenceData scienceRoboticsMachine learningDeep learningComputer visionNatural language processingBig dataSmart citiesGenerative AIInformation security in AIComputer science

Admission conditions

  • Saudi nationality.
  • A qualification from an accredited Saudi institution, or a Ministry of Education equivalence if obtained abroad.
  • A grade of at least 'very good' in the last qualification.
  • A final offer from a listed university and a scholarship decision from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program.
  • The offer must be in a target specialisation or one of its branches.
  • Full-time study, fully resident at the place of study for the whole period.
  • Passing a personal interview.
  • Passing competitive selection for the available seats.

Degrees: bachelor's, master's and PhD.

What the programme adds

  • Academic advising and follow-up
  • Research opportunities with global bodies
  • Employment support
  • Training and entrepreneurship
  • Solutions to national challenges
  • Joining research groups
  • The AI scholars' association

The page lists no extra money. Employment support means job readiness, not a guaranteed job (per the FAQ).

Dates and contact

Application dates are not published yet. SDAIA announces them on the programme page and its official accounts. Contact: 8001221111 or SSP@SDAIA.GOV.SA.

Target universities

95 universities chosen by SDAIA from the world's top 50 in the target fields in any of the Shanghai, QS or Times rankings. The list may change.

🇨🇳China25 universities
  • 🇨🇳Beihang University
  • 🇨🇳Beijing Institute of Technology
  • 🇨🇳Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
  • 🇨🇳Fudan University
  • 🇨🇳Harbin Institute of Technology
  • 🇨🇳Huazhong University of Science and Technology
  • 🇨🇳Nanjing University
  • 🇨🇳Nanjing University of Science and Technology
  • 🇨🇳National University of Defense Technology
  • 🇨🇳Northwestern Polytechnical University
  • 🇨🇳Peking University
  • 🇨🇳Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • 🇨🇳Sichuan University
  • 🇨🇳South China University of Technology
  • 🇨🇳Southeast University
  • 🇨🇳Southern University of Science and Technology
  • 🇨🇳Sun Yat-sen University
  • 🇨🇳Tongji University
  • 🇨🇳Tsinghua University
  • 🇨🇳University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
  • 🇨🇳University of Science and Technology of China
  • 🇨🇳Wuhan University
  • 🇨🇳Xi'an Jiaotong University
  • 🇨🇳Xidian University
  • 🇨🇳Zhejiang University
🇺🇸United States25 universities
  • 🇺🇸California Institute of Technology
  • 🇺🇸Carnegie Mellon University
  • 🇺🇸Columbia University
  • 🇺🇸Cornell University
  • 🇺🇸Georgia Institute of Technology
  • 🇺🇸Harvard University
  • 🇺🇸Johns Hopkins University
  • 🇺🇸Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • 🇺🇸New York University
  • 🇺🇸Princeton University
  • 🇺🇸Purdue University, West Lafayette
  • 🇺🇸Stanford University
  • 🇺🇸The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • 🇺🇸University of California, Berkeley
  • 🇺🇸University of California, Los Angeles
  • 🇺🇸University of California, San Diego
  • 🇺🇸University of Chicago
  • 🇺🇸University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • 🇺🇸University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • 🇺🇸University of Pennsylvania
  • 🇺🇸University of Southern California
  • 🇺🇸University of Texas at Austin
  • 🇺🇸University of Washington
  • 🇺🇸Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
  • 🇺🇸Yale University
🇦🇺Australia8 universities
  • 🇦🇺Australian National University
  • 🇦🇺Macquarie University
  • 🇦🇺Monash University
  • 🇦🇺Swinburne University of Technology
  • 🇦🇺The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)
  • 🇦🇺University of Melbourne
  • 🇦🇺University of Sydney
  • 🇦🇺University of Technology Sydney
🇬🇧United Kingdom8 universities
  • 🇬🇧Brunel University London
  • 🇬🇧Imperial College London
  • 🇬🇧King's College London
  • 🇬🇧The University of Manchester
  • 🇬🇧University College London (UCL)
  • 🇬🇧University of Cambridge
  • 🇬🇧University of Edinburgh
  • 🇬🇧University of Oxford
🇨🇦Canada6 universities
  • 🇨🇦McGill University
  • 🇨🇦University of Alberta
  • 🇨🇦University of British Columbia
  • 🇨🇦Université de Montréal
  • 🇨🇦University of Toronto
  • 🇨🇦University of Waterloo
🇭🇰Hong Kong5 universities
  • 🇭🇰City University of Hong Kong
  • 🇭🇰The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • 🇭🇰The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • 🇭🇰The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  • 🇭🇰The University of Hong Kong
🇨🇭Switzerland2 universities
  • 🇨🇭ETH Zurich
  • 🇨🇭École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
🇩🇪Germany2 universities
  • 🇩🇪LMU Munich
  • 🇩🇪Technical University of Munich
🇫🇷France2 universities
  • 🇫🇷Institut Polytechnique de Paris
  • 🇫🇷Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL Research University)
🇮🇳India2 universities
  • 🇮🇳Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
  • 🇮🇳Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
🇯🇵Japan2 universities
  • 🇯🇵Institute of Science Tokyo
  • 🇯🇵The University of Tokyo
🇰🇷South Korea2 universities
  • 🇰🇷Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
  • 🇰🇷Seoul National University
🇸🇬Singapore2 universities
  • 🇸🇬Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • 🇸🇬National University of Singapore
🇧🇪Belgium1 universities
  • 🇧🇪KU Leuven
🇮🇹Italy1 universities
  • 🇮🇹Politecnico di Milano
🇳🇱Netherlands1 universities
  • 🇳🇱Delft University of Technology
🇳🇿New Zealand1 universities
  • 🇳🇿Victoria University of Wellington

Names in English as in SDAIA's guide; flags are ours.

Source: the AI Scholarship Program page on SDAIA's website (goals, degrees, fields, conditions, benefits, FAQ) and its guide to target universities, read 2026-10-09. SDAIA's website is the reference.

Source: the official guide to ordering university lists by field, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program, academic year 2026-2027. Always confirm against the latest version on the Safeer platform before applying.

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