JEDDAH, 26 November 2002 — A leading businessman has offered to award a number of scholarships to the students of Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah beginning this academic year.
After visiting the college on Sunday, the businessman, Abdul Khaliq Saeed, told Arab News that the number of scholarships, which will be named after him, will go up from five this year to 10 next year and to 15 in the third year and continue to rise in the succeeding years. The scholarships aim to open up higher education opportunities for financially weak students, Saeed said.
Dar Al-Hekma College, which is the first university level private institution for women in the Kingdom, was founded in 1999. It offers degree programs in public administration, financial management, marketing and nursing.
Saeed urged the college’s governing body to increase the intake of nursing students as the existing 40 seats are too insufficient to meet market demand.
Dr. Nida Abdul Salam Jambi, principal of the college, put the market demand for female nurses at 90,000. Degree holders from the college are being trained in the latest nursing techniques with a view to raising their employment potential, she added.
Another leading businessman, Mohammed Isa Al-Jaber, chairman of the Ajwa Group, had earlier offered several scholarships to the poor students in the college. The group’s Al-Jaber Fund will award 10 scholarships for university studies in Britain, France, Egypt and Lebanon, according to Dr. Nehad Ibrahim of the fund.
Zuhair Hamid Fayez, chairman of the board of trustees of the college, expected that more businessmen would come forward with offers of scholarships in the coming years.
