MANAMA: Saudis studying in Bahrain have been asked by the island’s Education Ministry to contact them before pursuing higher education in the country.
The advisory follows the discovery of several private universities which have been warned of closure for flouting higher education laws.
The move comes as a result of some GCC states’ refusal to accredit degrees obtained by their nationals from some of Bahrain’s private universities last year.
The council reacted quickly by holding assessments for all private universities from October 2008, in which institutions were guided on ways to improve their curricula and teaching methods.
Ali Al-Hashimi, general secretary of the Higher Education Council, said in a statement that the closing down of universities would not affect students, as the law would protect their rights.
“We have given a nine-month period for those universities to correct their situation as we wouldn’t accept one or two universities to damage the good education reputation of Bahrain.”
He added that students who completed the intensive courses before the ban wouldn’t need to repeat them and that their degrees would be accredited by the council.
He said the new students should be careful and that they should contact the council before registering for intensive courses.
Al-Hashmi said that the council was working to list all students who took intensive courses before the ban to keep a record of them, but no action would be taken against them.
Many Saudi students study in Bahrain’s private universities and attend classes during the weekends.
These universities have also come under the council’s scanner for allowing students to attend classes only twice a week.
The council has also forced many of those universities to hire qualified professors with at least masters degrees and stop intensive short courses that enable students to complete one subject of their majors in only 10 days.
