JEDDAH, 17 December 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved the Higher Education Council’s resolution to provide scholarships to 15 Saudi-based private colleges.
Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari said in a statement released yesterday that the ministry has formulated the basic structure for the domestic scholarships project and has finalized the conditions for scholarship nominees.
Al-Anqari said that the strategic goal behind this new project is to upgrade the levels of higher education in the Kingdom especially in the private education sector.
The ministry is currently preparing the official applications that would be distributed in the private colleges for the purpose of nominating students who comply with the conditions of the scholarships.
Shali Al-Jedani, chairman of the board of Ibn Sina College of Medical Sciences, said that this step is essential to develop the domestic private education and would give a chance for students to study in their homeland and among their families.
He said the new regulation has set up the mechanism for an equitable distribution of scholarships among the private colleges; the number of scholarships should not exceed 30 percent of the total number of students in each college.
Rashad Kashgari, dean of Ibn Sina College, said that this move toward localizing the scholarships would help in meeting the market’s demand, because private colleges in the Kingdom are moving toward understanding the market needs in formulating their courses.
Suhair Qurashi, dean of Dar Al-Hekma College for Women, said the private higher education in the Kingdom is considered as good if not better than many colleges in neighboring countries.
The step is quite important, she said, especially for women, who find it hard to study abroad. “Now, more women can apply for scholarships with the comfort of studying in their own country,” she said.
