“Serious efforts are underway to include these students under the scholarship program. The government is keen to find a permanent solution to the problem of students who are getting enrolled in huge numbers at British universities and funding their own studies,” said an unnamed source speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

The sources add that some of the students could be sent to universities in other countries where quotas for the scholarship program have still not been met.

The UK has recently seen an influx of thousands of Saudi students who have enrolled at universities and colleges at their own expense with the hope of subsequently coming under the Kingdom’s flagship scholarship program.

Many of these students have submitted requests to the Saudi Embassy in London to be included in the program and met Abdullah Al-Mousa, undersecretary for Scholarship Affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education.

However, Saudi authorities are uncertain whether all of these students qualify for the program, something that needs to be ascertained prior to including them.

Al-Mousa said the fact that Saudi students are thronging British educational institutes could well lead to not including them in the scholarship program. “This immense presence of students will naturally negatively impact their academic standards and qualifications. The ministry has repeatedly urged prospective students not to throng British universities but instead choose universities in those countries where the scholarship program’s quota has still not been met,” he said.

Most Saudi students enrolled at British universities do so having completed short English language education courses in the UK.

The Higher Education Ministry official urged students who are funding their own studies to contact the ministry for further details about countries whose scholarship quotas are still not filled.

Last month Minister of Higher Education Khalid Al-Anqari issued orders to include students who are pursuing postgraduate studies in some East Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan to be included in the King Abdullah Scholarship Program.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had also earlier issued a directive to include Saudi students at educational institutes in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to come under the program. An expected 5,000 male and female students benefited from the directive. There are presently around 80,000 Saudi students pursuing higher education at universities across the world under the scholarship program.