Indian expats explore higher education options in Saudi Arabia

Students and parents have strongly urged the Indian mission to explore options for opening higher education avenues for Indian expatriate students with Saudi authorities.
Apart from students and parents, a large number of working professionals explored the options of various short-term, long-distance intensive courses to enhance their skills and expertise at the Higher Education Fair & Career Guidance Program organized by the Indian Youth Welfare Association (IYWA) recently at Consulate General of India in Jeddah.
Universities, institutions and educational academies from India, Saudi Arabia and GCC countries participated in the Higher Education Fair to introduce and promote their new courses and institutions. Experts from various streams in education sector provided career guidance to students about the new courses and their opportunities, existing courses and their demand, in addition to options available in vocational, diploma and certificate courses in their respective fields. Academicians, professors, lecturers and principals from various colleges and schools graced the occasion.
Guidance in computer science was given by Professor R. Selvarani and Sara Fatima, lecturers in the Information Systems Department at the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, while Khalid Hassan, accounts manager at Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ), gave a lecture on commerce.
Teachers from International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) provided guidance to the students. Fruitful information on technology was given by Abdul Hamid, geography by Mohan Raj, engineering and scholarships by Thomas M. Das Arackal, economics by Mohammad Imran, biology and medical sciences by Dr. Iftekhar H. Javeed, humanities by Ashraf Unnisa, home science by Zehra Mahruq, and sports by Vijender Singh and Ranjit Kaur.
Chief guest Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, consul general of India, inaugurated the Higher Education Fair & Career Guidance Program. Mohammed Raghib Qureshi, head of chancery and consul (education), Pranav Ganesh, consul (consular); S.R.H. Fahmi, consul (community welfare) and Prabhat Jain, consul (labor). IISJ Principal Masood Ahmad also attended the event.
Both academicians and educationalists were praised by IYWA for taking up the cause of higher education and professional development and creating awareness among the community. They were impressed by the large turnout and the magnitude of response, interest and inquisitiveness of students and parents for the future of their career and professional path and concluded that the program was unique and first of its kind in their decades of stay in Jeddah.