The King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) serves a range of students, from those pursuing an intensive English education to PhD candidates, and equips future generations to handle the country's main challenges. The KASP is a milestone in the history of higher education in Saudi Arabia, and great efforts have been made to make it a success. However, there are still a number of aspects that are not taken into account by those in charge of this educational project. Such a failure greatly reduces the chances of students receiving the maximum benefit from such a higher educational investment of this magnitude. The apparent causes of such deficiencies appear in three areas, including lack of plans for phases prior and during the scholarship period and inadequate aftermath measures upon returning home equipped with state-of-the-art knowledge gained after studying in various fields in numerous well-known universities around the globe. Until now, a well-developed and clearly defined pre-scholarship plan with specific operational mechanisms has not been formulated. Currently, the students who are awarded a scholarship are asked to attend an insufficient three-day orientation course. The discussion during the orientation sessions primarily preaches religious discourse and places much emphasis on tackling religious matters instead of addressing related and critical academic and cultural issues. The solution to this problem lies in implementing a comprehensive pre-departure orientation program that takes into account several aspects and works specifically within the framework of both long- and short-term plans to prepare students who are about to leave for their chosen destinations. The first issue to be included in the short-term plan is to stress to the scholarship candidates the significance of this golden opportunity and advise them to exploit their presence in the host country and work hard enough to gain a distinct level of education. They also have to be enlightened about the culture and society of the countries where they will study. After this introductory session, a series of workshops and seminars should be given by Saudi graduates who have the experience of studying abroad as well as local and international educational experts regarding various aspects of the educational systems of particular countries. This will ease the scholarship recipients' academic and social adjustment. Such orientation should not be presented in traditional ways; rather, more innovative and interactive approaches should be used so that the prospective scholarship recipients are more engaged in the discussion. Along with these suggested short-term activities, long-term initiatives should be implemented to accomplish the stated objectives of the KASP. Saudi secondary graduates lack the essential skills needed to ensure success in their educational endeavors abroad. They need training in time management and study skills, practice in the ways to extract information from massive references, conduct small research projects and deliver oral presentations. They should also learn how to present and defend their arguments and academic views. They should be trained in critical and independent thinking. The Saudi educational system merely expects students to memorize the information presented to them. Foreign educational systems, especially those in Western countries, encourage students to think critically and expect much more. Overall, they need explicit information about teaching and learning practices as well as guidance on how to learn in the different classroom environments in the host country. Another element crucial to the long-term plan is related to language proficiency. Scholarship recipients need to learn the basics of the English language or of the language of the country where they will study. Instead of spending a year or so in the host country learning the language, a six-month or more intensive language course in the Kingdom would help to improve their low levels of language proficiency. At that point, they would be able to advance further when studying a language in the host country and, as a result, overcome language difficulties and increase academic success. In addition to all of the aforementioned long-term initiatives, there is a need to establish a platform for collaboration and cooperation among educational government and private institutions in order to identify the needed study areas or academic disciplines. Interested students can then be directed to scholarship opportunities available within their fields of study. Another technical aspect is to form a unit that assumes the task of searching for distinct universities around the globe and high-caliber Saudi high school and college admission in prestigious universities worldwide. Equally important is the ability to assist students by seeking out the best language institutes in the host countries that can help the scholarship recipients to acquire the appropriate level of language proficiency. In addition to the lack of a comprehensive pre-scholarship plan, we find that the program also lacks an inclusive plan for the next phase (i.e., onsite support for scholarship recipients). There are no specific measures or plan with a clear direction on how to receive and welcome scholarship recipients when they arrive in the host country. In addition, there is no means of support to enable individuals or groups of students to overcome obstacles or alleviate any difficulty they might encounter in attaining a successful education abroad. This need arises apparently due to the absence of existing academic and social support programs that would enable Saudi cultural missions to provide a timely response to the increasing number of students in each country. The problem is exacerbated by the lack of well-trained personnel employed in these cultural missions who are capable of dealing effectively and efficiently with the students' immediate needs. Worse is that Saudi cultural missions do not have enough qualified academic advisors who are familiar with the requirements of each discipline and able to provide sound academic guidance. Many of these advisors oversee students in groups in different host countries, making it extremely difficult to be well-versed in regulations and rules established by each university. Another equally important but neglected aspect of the scholarship period is we often fail to encourage our scholarship students to mingle, engage, and interact with the people and society of the country where they study. Instead, the information that is conveyed during the three-day orientation course to the scholarship recipients is that it is important to avoid any undesirable aspects of culture in the host country. Thus, our scholarship students often fail to interact with the people in the host country and instead mingle within their own circles. As a result, Saudi students who are studying abroad are not involved in social activities and do not reach out to the country's political, educational and social institutions or cultural and intellectual organizations while studying overseas. Further, it is unfortunate to note that they do not strive to establish a network of experts within their fields of study. Failure to deeply engage in the academic environment and society prevents most Saudi graduates from enriching their understanding of political, intellectual and social spheres. Therefore, they do not acquire the required skills to lead in constructive discussions on various issues. The negative consequences of such a stand prevent the students from conveying the true image of our country and society, let alone in fostering a positive impression and contributing to the intellectual and cultural dynamism of campuses and the host society at large.
— Dr. Khalid Al-Seghayer is a Saudi academic. He can be reached at [email protected]
