UNIVERSITY education in Saudi Arabia is undergoing rapid change. Typically, expatriates living in the Kingdom send their children back home or abroad for higher education. However, a large number of expatriates including Syrians, Pakistanis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Egyptians and Indians are now enrolling their off-spring in private Saudi universities. Farooq Khan, a senior accountant from Pakistan, who has worked in the Kingdom for 20 years, said he wants his son to enroll in a Saudi university instead of sending him back home for studies. “My children have been born and raised in Saudi Arabia. I want my son to study in a Saudi university because most children his age do not have the mental, emotional and physical maturity to live apart from their parents, take rational decisions and settle in another place all by themselves.” Higher education in Saudi Arabia was previously considered to be mediocre. Sami Al-Owani, a Yemeni student studying in a university in Riyadh said, “Previously there were only a few universities in the country and they did not have technologically advanced equipment, up-to-date curricula and well-qualified professors; now it's different.” Today, the Kingdom has around 50 universities and colleges with a range of different faculties including business administration, information technology, science, health, humanities, engineering and languages. According to the Ministry of Higher Education, there are 19 high capacity universities working across the Kingdom, which regularly conduct scientific symposiums and conferences; have research departments, libraries, internal academic and sport competitions; and allow academic staff to participate in specialized scientific activities and have regular student debate and speech contests. Recently, Al-Yamamah University and Prince Sultan University represented Saudi Arabia in an International Environmental Speech Competition in Dubai, where Al-Yamamah University won the first place-prize out of 57 participating universities from UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Participants from the Kingdom included 16 Saudi students, three Syrian students and a Pakistani student. “Saudi Arabia created history this year,” said Abrar Al-Babtain, one of the winners of the competition. Both of the Saudi universities ranked among the top 5 universities from the GCC in the completion. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and the King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz Medical University are research universities being established by the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. Steven Knowles, a business writing teacher from New Zealand in Al-Yamamah University, believes that students from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities create a competitive environment in his classes. “It also allows students to mutually share their experiences, knowledge, skills and innovative ideas,” he said. Yet for many expatriates, questions like to what extent these institutions are affiliated or linked with reputable universities in other countries remain unanswered, often due to a lack of information of the internal academic structure of the local universities. “Our media is not strong; we are trying to play our role to improve public relations by advertising on the Internet, having public events and organizing various competitions,” said Sara Al-Mouwad, director of marketing and PR in Al-Yamamah college. Many universities in the Kingdom are jointly working with well-known foreign universities in Europe and America to enhance the quality of the academic instruction in their colleges. These universities, which offer degrees from diplomas and bachelors to masters and PhDs, are also inclined to invest heavily in the infrastructure of knowledge and to promote their universities. The annual fees of private universities here start at about SR 8,000 and can go up to SR 60,000 depending upon the number of credit hours registered. According to a report by the International and Intergovernmental relations, Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta and various other institutions are working closely with the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia. Twinning programs, memorandum of understanding (MOU), student exchange programs and apprenticeship are some of the ways in which universities set up a consortium. King Saud University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and other universities across the Kingdom have set up alliances with foreign universities like the University of Calgary and the Simon Fraser University in Canada. Knowles said foreign universities having direct links with the Saudi Ministry of Education must have certain criteria for transferring credits from one university to another. “The Saudi ministry has certain standardized policies; however, universities also have their own level of independence to make certain decisions,” he said. University education in the Kingdom can be expensive, but nevertheless, it is less than what it may cost in universities abroad. For students of high academic merit, some local universities also provide scholarships to both Saudi and foreign students.
