The global economic crisis will not affect the King's Scholarships Program in any way, Abdullah Al-Mousa, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Higher Education for Scholarships, said here on Saturday. He referred to King Abdullah's generous gesture of increasing students' stipends by 50 percent pointing that the rise made some students get SR12,000 which exceeds the salaries of some teaching staff in Saudi universities. Al-Mousa warned Saudi scholarship students of “brokers” who forge student admissions to universities and language centers abroad. He told students to apply only to institutes and universities selected by the Saudi education attachés in host counties. Every cultural attaché had three admissions offices and that the attaché assigned institutes are monitored by embassies, Al-Mousa said. Should the embassies discover any irregularities in the admission process the authorities in charge would immediately cease to recognize it and would start searching for a substitute, he said. Al-Mousa made these comments while meeting students from the King's Scholarships Program. He said the ministry had completed admission procedures for the King's program and advised students to look for accredited universities. He said the ministry approves the scholarship only when students bring an admission letter from the university or an institute. Students, he said, should not be content with finding acceptance from one or two universities, but should instead continue searching for admission to the most reputed universities possible. The official called upon the students to be exemplary in dealing with others for they represent their country stressing that all the students sent on scholarships didn't face any problems in assimilating in the society or adapting themselves to the new environment.
