Qaisar Mutawie Al-Madinah There is no doubt the King Abdullah scholarship program for Saudis to study abroad was one of the most important programs launched by the government in recent years. It means that the government has invested in our young men and women, enabling them to have the best education in the best universities of the world. When these young men and women return home armed with high educational qualifications, they are expected to contribute to the development their country. Regretfully, there is no parallel program to look after these graduates at home and find them jobs. There are many Saudi men and women who studied at the best universities in the world and graduated with honors. These outstanding students were honored by their universities but when they came back to their country they were shocked to find out that there were no jobs awaiting them. If at all there were job opportunities for them, they would not be in their fields of specialization. This has pained and disappointed the graduates who were honored and accredited abroad but not in their own home. Even the employees who were sent for higher education abroad by their government departments were not given the opportunity to improve the performance of these departments. They were ultimately made part of the routine and bureaucracy existing in these departments. Their dreams have thus evaporated in thin air. There are a number of Saudi students who have obtained awards of excellence and patents for their inventions from their universities abroad but after they came back no one has heard of them. When they failed to be recognized, many of them packed their bags and went back to the countries where they had their higher education. These countries have opened their arms to them, thankful for the free human wealth they have received. The Kingdom had spent a lot of money on the education of these students and has therefore lost a huge wealth that will not come back to us again. The presence of the large number of graduates who studied abroad under the King's scholarship program is an opportunity for us that may not be repeated again. We should, therefore, make special programs in collaboration with the Saudi cultural attaches to benefit from them. We should secure suitable jobs for them that are commensurate with their specializations. We also hope that the government departments that have sent their employees abroad make use of them to improve their performance. The departments should not grind these graduates under the wheel of bureaucracy and red tape. The scholarship program of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is one of the most important government programs. If we make good use of it, we will develop our country, otherwise we would have wasted billions of riyals for nothing.
