SAUDI students have a wide variety of options for pursuing higher studies abroad. This was in evidence at a recent education expo held in Jeddah in which 76 overseas universities and other international institutions took part alongside local counterparts. Universities and educational institutions from Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Egypt, Germany, Jordan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, UK and the US were among the participants. The fact is that foreign universities are as keen as Saudi ones to attract Saudi students. And the students as equally keen to study abroad.
What many Saudis want to study, whether abroad or locally, is business management. So said representatives from overseas and local universities at the expo. English-language courses are also much in demand, they said. In many cases, that is because good English is the first step to being accepted for academic or vocational courses in many countries, not just English speaking ones. It is possible to do an MBA in English in France, for example Even in many of Arab states, English is the medium for a large number of university courses.
Although the first choice as to country for many Saudi students is the US followed by the UK (in large part because of English), other locations are proving attractive, even if it means studying a different language. According to Dutch Ambassador to the Kingdom Ron Strikker, some 200 Saudi medical students have been studying at the universities of Maastricht and Groningen since 2006 under the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program. The universities also have courses in humanities and sciences. Nicolai Manie, coordinator of student affairs pre-med program at the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences of Maastricht University, said the university’s other courses will attract Saudi students.
Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (German Academic Exchange Service), another participant in Jeddah, offers international bachelors, masters and doctoral programs at a number of German universities and research institutions. There are around 100 Saudi students in Germany.
For those interested in hotel management, Switzerland offers some of the best training in the world. The Swiss Hotel Management School offers internationally recognized and highly ranked diploma, higher diploma, BA (Hons) degree and MA degree programs. The BA program is covered in three years. Switzerland’s Les Elfes International also offers winter as well as spring and summer camps for younger students, both male and female, from eight years of age to 18-years old. It offers a range of programs and services and provides educational tours and travel experiences including ski/snowboard camps in Switzerland and other parts of Europe.
Canada is another popular destination. Vancouver-based Canadian Education Network’s (CEN) was at the Jeddah expo and according to it associate director Ross Renwick, eighty percent of Saudi students in Canada are intent on pursuing postgraduate studies, “especially in medicine, engineering and technology”.
To help non-native English-language speakers adapt, CEN Step was set up to prepare high school students intending to pursue university education in Canada, or any other English speaking country. “It has been developed with the support of major Canadian educational institutions to provide the knowledge necessary to succeed in higher education,” he said. The program will be introduced in Riyadh next month and in Jeddah in the following two months.
Students who intend to pursue university studies in Canada have to meet strict admission requirements which include English language proficiency and good grades in subjects relevant to their field of study. “Those who fail to meet the admission standards, which may vary among universities, are required to complete a foundation program prior to their academic registration,” Renwick said.
“Both course study and testing are completed at locations designated by CEN in established educational institutions in the Kingdom. The partner school in Riyadh is the Kingdom School. Accredited teachers and professors will administer testing from educational institutions in Canada,” he added.
Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP) is an English foundation and testing program development by the University of British Columbia. It is designed for students who need to improve their communication and composition skills before starting university courses. “CEN has adopted CELPIP as an inseparable part of CEN Step,” he added.
It is not just colleges and academic institutions and in the West that want to attract Saudi students. Those in countries such as Korea, Singapore, India and other places in Asia are just as interested. Malaysia, for example, has innumerable options for higher studies. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia) is keen to promote its Centre of Graduation Management, which ensures study and research within the faculties, institutes and centers of the university. Its masters program is covered in two to four semesters on a full-time basis or between four and 10 semesters part-time. The duration for the Doctor of Philosophy program is from six to 12 semesters on full-time basis or eight to 14 semesters, part-time. Other southeast Asian universities, such as in Singapore where females outnumber the males in the 54 Saudi students, provide similarly flexible programs.
Some institutions have set up a regional base in cooperation with a local institution, or even gone it alone. One such is the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland at the Medical University of Bahrain. Taking Ireland’s world-class standards of medical education to the Middle East, it offers a one-year foundation course followed by a five-year medical school program. The School of Medicine is modularized in three cycles: Junior, Intermediate and Senior. The junior cycle comprises 18 modules delivered over three semesters with two themes: Health, Behavior & Society, and Clinical Competencies. In the intermediate cycles, 18 modules are delivered over three semesters.