JEDDAH — The Ministry of Education announced that it has accepted 10,725 non-Saudi students for admission to public universities for academic year 2016-2017. Ministry of Education spokesman Mubarak Al-Ussaimi said that usually 5 percent non-Saudi students are accepted into public universities. However, this year only 2 percent non-Saudis applied for admission. The names of Saudi students accepted for admission to public universities will be announced by the end of this week, he said. Al-Ussaimi earlier told an Arabic daily that the children of Saudi mothers and non-Saudi fathers are treated as Saudi applicants. They register using their residence permits. Once they are accepted, they are asked to bring in the original and copy of their passports, national ID cards of their mothers, their residence permits, birth certificates and their applications. He also said the ministry does not control the number of new students accepted in each public university. The higher education system includes 21 government universities, 19 teachers colleges for men, 80 teachers colleges for women, 37 colleges and institutes for health, 12 technical colleges and 24 private universities and colleges. Universities and colleges offer graduate programs that include both master's and doctoral degrees. Private universities and institutions are nonprofit organizations that complement government universities. Most government universities are general universities, but some specialize in certain areas, such as petroleum and health.
