BURAIDAH, 25 January 2008 — A group of graduates of an English-diploma program that was wrongly advertised as accredited has launched a website to promote their cause after Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University failed to comply with a court order asking it to reimburse what students had paid as tuition.
The interactive web portal, www.helpus2008.com/vb, provides information on the case since it began six years ago.
“The new website is the start of a new stage in the defense of our rights,” said Sattam Saleh Al-Awad, one of the graduates and founders of the website. “The university’s reluctance to obey the order has led us to launch this website” to publicize the students’ plight and muster support.
Information on the various stages of the case is available on the website that includes an archive of the documents used in the case as well as several sections on the press coverage.
“We have been promised by Dr. Sulaiman ibn Abdullah Abalkhail, the rector of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, that we would be paid back our tuition according to the court order before the end of last year. That date has passed,” said Al-Awad, speaking on behalf of the students.
The two-year program, which is no longer available at the university, was run by Al-Faisal Academy on the university’s premises in four regions of the Kingdom, including Qassim, Riyadh, Madinah and Ahsa.
The university’s reluctance to obey the court order led the students to file a complaint last year to the Ministry of Interior to enforce the court decision. The complaint ended up at the Ministry of Higher Education.
“We are in the right direction toward finding a solution to this problem,” Abalkhail told Al-Ekhbariah news channel in August in a program aired to discuss the problem.
“We are working positively on finding a solution for the 110 students, who obtained a court order,” he said, adding that the rest of the graduates would have to follow regulatory procedures.
Al-Awad and Nayef Al-Furaidy, another of the graduates, were also invited to the Al-Ekhbariah program.
Abalkhail admitted during the TV debate that the graduates’ case was valid and pointed a finger at “other parties” involved.
“There are some missing links which are not implicated and I do not want to name them,” he said.
Speaking to Arab News over the phone on Aug. 25, Abalkhail said, “It is a matter of time ... the 110 students will be paid back as soon as possible.”
