JEDDAH, 17 December 2003 — With Saudi students finding it increasingly difficult to get study visas for the US, many are forced to consider other options. This can be particularly difficult for those who started courses in the US but are unable to continue their studies there. If they want to transfer their credits, they must find a US-style institution — but outside the US.
According to the US-based International Institute for Education, some 4,000 students — mostly from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Egypt — did not make it to the United States for the start of the 2002-2003 academic year.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001 events and the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” student visas have become particularly difficult to acquire or even renew.
The message for foreign students, particularly Arabs and Muslims, is that they are no longer welcome to study in the United States.
Last year, Saudi Arabia was perhaps the hardest hit country of all — 1,400 fewer students made it into the US.
Schools like the American University in Cairo and other American universities, in Dubai, Sharjah and Beirut, are stepping in to fill the gap.
The AUC is a liberal arts institution based on an American model of education. Incorporated, licensed and fully accredited in the United States, it functions in Egypt under an agreement between Egypt and the US.
Saudi students are not unhappy about the new arrangement. “It’s an Arab environment, similar to home. In fact, I think it’s better than the States,” said Ayman Nouh, a Saudi with two years at Southern Illinois University under his belt.
“Even after Sept. 11 we didn’t think anything would change,” Emad Al-Moussa said. As the year dragged on, however, he realized that going to the US “wouldn’t be easy.”
“In fact, many people were afraid of going there because of the ways Arabs were being treated.”
Emad entered AUC in the fall of 2002. “It’s not that different from the States. I’m happy here,” he said.
According to Jan Montassir, AUC associate vice president and dean of international students, AUC plans to continue helping non-degree and degree-seeking students get a US-style education particularly when it is difficult for them to get visas to study in the United States.
The other American universities in the region, too, hope to cash in on the situation.
