Having said this, I must remind the ministry of the various problems some Saudi students are facing, particularly in the United States.

The cost of living in the US is very high in contrast to the meager monthly allowance the students receive, which does not exceed $1,800.

The payment of this little allowance always comes late around the middle of the month.

The students often have to live in poverty for half a month before the allowance is paid to them. No doubt some students receive money from their wealthy parents, but that is not the case for many others.

In addition to the issue of inadequate allowances, which must be reviewed taking into account the cost of living in each foreign country where Saudi students are studying, there is another problem.

That is the issue of weak educational supervision, which, in many cases, is entrusted to Arab men and women.

Some of these supervisors do not give the students much time or attention. Worse than that, they sometimes do not answer calls from the students. The ministry was obliged to urge them to keep the mobile phones that it has provided to them at all times.

The question here is, why do we not Saudize the position of educational supervisor?

The minister of higher education answered this question by saying that there is a great difficulty in sending hundreds of Saudi supervisors because it requires passing through complicated diplomatic measures. He added that it is difficult to find enough Saudis who are willing to work abroad.

The first part of the answer may be a real obstacle, but I am sure that many Saudis would be happy to work abroad.

Postgraduate Saudi students can be assigned the task of educational supervisors to take care of undergraduates.

This task will not distract postgraduate students from their studies. They are better equipped to do the job because they are more understanding and will take better care of their compatriots.

In contrast to the ministry’s department that efficiently looks after the affairs of students studying abroad, some of the educational and cultural attaches are very slow.

Many of them according to the students themselves are difficult to contact. This brought to my memory the good work done by Abdul Aziz Al-Manqoor who was a cultural attaché in the US some years back. He used to travel from one state to another to meet the students and solve their moral and financial problems.