Ministry to pay fees for 50% students in private varsities

MADINAH: The Ministry of Higher Education currently pays the fees of 30 percent of students in private universities and colleges and plans to increase the percentage to 50 percent, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Ali Attiyah said.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the Islamic University and Taiba University in Madinah, he said Saudi universities took 92 percent of the country’s secondary school graduates.

“Saudi Arabia has one of the highest percentages of secondary school graduates in colleges and universities; the percentage has reached 92 percent,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying.

He said the ministry would continue its efforts to provide accommodation to teaching staff of government universities. “We’ll sign contracts for building staff accommodation quarters for Taiba and Islamic universities after the issuance of budgets for them,” he said.

“We have already awarded contracts to implement the first phase of the staff accommodation project for the Islamic University in Madinah,” he said. Al-Attiyah said that Taiba University plans to establish new colleges on its campus. He highlighted the importance of sending more students for higher studies under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, saying the program would bring about an educational renaissance in the country.

“We have already started feeling the difference with the return of those who have completed their studies,” the minister said.

Al-Attiyah said the ministry would issue a new law for distance education shortly to improve its quality. He discussed with the presidents and officials of Taiba University and the Islamic University how to solve the problems and obstacles they faced.

He commended the Islamic University’s role in providing education to students from different parts of the Muslim world.