RIYADH, 27 November 2007 — The Ministry of Higher Education has sought the collaboration of a Malaysian company in setting up an open university in the Kingdom.
Ismail Ibrahim, Malaysian ambassador to the Kingdom, told Arab News that the new distance-learning program, which will be in addition to the Saudi branch of the Arab Open University, will focus on IT as well as science and technology courses. He added that the Malaysian company would help in developing its curriculum and teaching material.
The ambassador said Saudi-Malaysian relations in the field of higher education got a major boost after 9/11. Around 600 Saudi students are expected to pursue higher education in Malaysian universities at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate level in multimedia, IT, business management, pharmacy, engineering and medicine by the end of this year.
While many of these students have gone there on government scholarships, some are paying for their own costs. The Saudi students’ academic program in Malaysia came on the heels of Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khaled Al-Angari’s visit to Kuala Lumpur recently.
He said that while it is clear that the Saudi government is interested in fostering closer ties in higher education, it seeks reassurance that Saudi students will live in an environment conducive to academic pursuit with adequate facilities.
Ambassador Ismail said two Malaysian professors are teaching at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. In the field of health care, 700 nurses are already working in various hospitals, with the number projected to reach 1,000 in the near future.
“Our advantage,” he pointed out, “is not just culture and religion. We offer quality education, high standards of living and affordability on top of religion and culture. In Malaysia, for example, the cost of university education is substantially lower, and the cost of living is even less. We are marketing this as the Malaysian brand,” he said.
Under its Study Abroad Program, the Ministry of Higher Education has awarded more than 25,000 scholarships to Saudi students to enable them to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies in some 29 countries.
