Bahrain has long argued that citizens are its greatest asset, but the latest cohort of the Crown Prince’s International Scholarship Programme shows how sharply that belief can translate into hard-currency returns for a small, open economy. Twenty-five high-achieving students—many from public schools—will head to world-class universities this autumn on the kingdom’s dime. Critics sometimes question the cost. I’d argue it’s the cheapest growth capital we’ll ever deploy.
Startups talk constantly about “ecosystem flywheels”: talent attracts funding, funding spawns exits, exits create mentorship, and the loop accelerates. CPISP is Bahrain’s version of that engine. Graduates come home armed with cutting-edge skills in AI, genomics, climate science—fields that slot neatly into Vision 2030 priorities and the government’s new Net-Zero Roadmap. More important, they return with networks: professors happy to co-publish, venture capitalists hunting for Gulf deal-flow, and peers eager to launch cross-border companies. Those connections are priceless for founders who still spend months cold-emailing labs or investors abroad.
The programme also levels the playing field. By plucking talent from Isa Town, Hamad Town and Saar alongside private schools, CPISP proves brilliance is evenly distributed even if opportunity isn’t. That matters for social cohesion and for GDP: the wider our skills base, the bigger our domestic market for advanced services. Pair that with Tamkeen’s wage-support schemes and the Central Bank’s sandbox, and you have a pipeline where scholarship alumni can jump straight into startup roles or spin out research they began overseas.
Could the government spend scholarship money elsewhere? Certainly. But no infrastructure project yields a higher compounding rate than human capital. One returning graduate who scales a company to MENA level will repay the outlay in tax, jobs and soft-power branding many times over. CPISP isn’t charity; it’s a strategic investment in Bahrain’s most resilient competitive edge—people whose ambition outpaces our 33-island geography.
The real question isn’t whether Bahrain can afford to keep funding global education. It’s whether we can afford not to.
