BURAIDAH, 26 August 2007 — The rector of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University assured a group of English graduates, who had enrolled into a program to qualify as English teachers that was advertised by the university as accredited but was in fact unrecognized, that the university would comply with a court order asking it to reimburse the tuition to the students.
Dr. Sulaiman ibn Abdullah Abalkhail met with the students at his office yesterday. He assured the students that the university had fully accepted the court order that ruled in favor of the 110 graduates and ordered it to reimburse SR25,000 to each one of them.
“It is a matter of time,” Abalkhail told Arab News over the phone yesterday after meeting the students. “The 110 students will be paid back as soon as possible,” he said, adding that the university had coordinated with Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khaled Al-Angari, who offered the students his support.
Abalkhail did not set an exact date for the reimbursement saying such a step requires a budget allocation. “But we have taken the first step toward protecting the rights of students,” he added.
Abalkhail pointed out that the university had formulated a special committee to study the case and that it had come up with various conclusions. “We will carry out the court order as soon as possible,” he added.
The English diploma graduates expressed their satisfaction at the outcome of the meeting, describing it as fruitful. “But we have to wait and see,” said Nayef Al-Furaidy, who was in the group of students who met with the rector yesterday.
“The rector promised to fulfill the court order in the near future ... he understood the validity of our case,” said Al-Furaidy, adding that the process of reimbursement needs to be finalized.
The Court of Grievances in Riyadh ruled last December in favor of the 110 graduates and asked the university to pay back SR25,000 to each student.
The program was advertised by the university as accredited by the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Education but was in fact unrecognized and useless. The two-year program was executed by the Al-Faisal Academy on the premises of the Imam University in four regions of the Kingdom: Qasim, Riyadh, Madinah and Al-Ahsa.
However, the university’s reluctance to obey the court order led the students to file a complaint to the Ministry of Interior to enforce the ruling. The complaint was then passed to the Ministry of Higher Education, which referred the case back to the university.
