I can honestly claim that I have extensive experience in studying abroad under different circumstances: I have lived there studying at my own expense with limited resources, as a scholarship student at the expense of the state, as an trainee and as an employee at the same time.

All these experiences have taught me a lot, and I do not mean just educationally. But rather life experiences that are invaluable and I consider them no less important than obtaining degrees.

I say this after reading tweets by Saudi scholarship students saying that he is living abroad with only one goal in mind; a scientific degree and that he is there with his family without any need for contact or dealing with any non-Muslims unless strictly necessary.

How I wish that our scholarship students would refrain from isolating themselves and benefit as much as possible of their presence, which may not be repeated.

In the advanced countries of scholarship, students should return from these countries with academic degrees, expertise and other skills such as learning a new language or additional practical training, or acquire and hone sports or artistic skills, or volunteer in programs in coordination with the cultural attaché in the country in which they are studying.

I hope they would seize this opportunity, to get to know the culture of the country in which they are studying and learn from them the discipline and respect for rules and time. It really distresses me when I see people who have studied in the West for many years, and then back home the least of his worries are commitment to deadlines and less than respectful of the laws and regulations of his country.

Imagine if the tens of thousands of scholarship students who returned home decades ago acquired the qualities they had learned abroad, of discipline and punctuality, respect for laws and regulations, took their professions seriously and then passed on those disciplines to those around them by example and instruction.

Imagine how it will change many things in our society for the better.

Some might ask, don’t they do so already? My answer is that many of them certainly do, while many of them are returning with certificates and degrees, no more no less.

Some graduates come back with great enthusiasm, but soon will not be able to resist the trend and loses all enthusiasm and nothing remains from those long years of study except for their scientific or academic titles and certificates in a frame on a wall.

Education and experiencing life in the West is a great opportunity that should be taken advantage of by Scholarship students as much they could, without pleading time constraints, because time is available, and they must have noticed that a lot of American students work and study and exercise regularly and participate in volunteer work and be of service to the community without complaint. What are required are the will, the ambition and the ability to organize time.

My last piece of advice to those on scholarships abroad — is to believe in themselves and seriously decide that they will return home not only with a degree, but also with distinction in additional fields and with more positive personal characteristics. God willing, this extra distinction will be a key that opens a lot of doors and opportunities after their return home.