“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved a proposal allowing these regular Saudi private students to join the foreign scholarship program,” the minister said, welcoming the king’s gesture.

King Abdullah’s directive will benefit thousands of Saudi students in the four Western countries, said Dr. Yassir Bahadur, consultant oncologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah.

“The royal gesture reflects the government’s strategy to invest more in manpower in order to prepare qualified people to take up important positions,” he said.

Ali bin Sulaiman Al-Attiyah, deputy minister of higher education, commended King Abdullah’s continuous gestures toward Saudi students abroad.

The king had earlier doubled the allowances given to Saudi students in foreign universities.

He also instructed officials to consider the financial problems of students suffering from exchange rate fluctuations. Up to four children of a scholarship beneficiary can benefit from allowances, he pointed out.

The King Abdullah Scholarship Program has made remarkable progress during the last five years in terms of quantity and quality.

At present more than 80,000 students in 25 countries benefit from the program. Thirty-two cultural attaches have been appointed at foreign missions to supervise these students.

The program has been expanded recently to accommodate technical students who will be sent to at least 20 countries for higher studies, including the US, UK and Australia.