According to the report, the Ministry of Higher Education intends to cancel all part-time courses from next year. Part-time students, who pay around SR3,000 per semester, are recommended to attend classes for two weeks each semester and evaluated through a final exam.

Distance learning students, on the other hand, attend online lectures and are evaluated through attendance, online lectures, coursework and final exams. These students pay around SR4,000 each semester.

Bashayer Saeed is a part-time second-year student studying sociology at King Abdulaziz University (KAU). Saeed is from Baha and feels the distance-learning program is more suited for her.

“I come all the way from Abha to attend lectures at KAU for two weeks and wait for my exams. I leave my kids in Abha with my husband because of their school. It is financially exhausting because I end up spending around SR5,000 and SR7,000 on hotel accommodation, not to mention transport and food,” she added.

“We have difficulty contacting our professors, even by e-mail, as they never answer. I have tried that a couple of times but they never answer my questions. We hope there will be more commitment in the distance-learning program,” said Saeed.

Mohammad Rabie, another part-time student, is worried that the Ministry of Higher Education is forcing students to enroll on the distance-learning program, which he says will not make them employable.

“We all know that the Civil Service Department, which offers jobs to Saudi graduates, does not accept graduates of distance-learning courses,” he said.

Distance-learning programs are already available at several Saudi universities. They are, however, optional. Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh has, for example, set aside a SR200 million budget to develop a distance learning system using the Internet.

Mohammad Al-Lihizan, a supervisor and consultant at the Ministry of Higher Education’s PR department, said the ministry has not yet officially announced that it is transferring its part-time students to KAU’s distance-learning program.

“Some universities are already applying it, take for example Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University. We have recognized that distance learning is a useful system. It is practical for students,” he added.