BURAIDAH, 3 August 2007 — Graduates of a two-year program at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University filed another lawsuit against the school in a six-year-old battle to be reimbursed SR25,000 each for a program by Al-Faisal Academy (in affiliation with the university) that was advertised as accredited but is in fact not recognized by the Ministry of Education.
The Court of Grievances in Riyadh ruled in favor of the 110 students in December but the university has yet to obey the orders of the court. The students enrolled in the degree program to be eligible for teaching English, but found out later their diplomas were worth little more than the paper they were printed on. “We’re caught between the legal and financial departments of the university,” said Sattam Al-Awad, one of the students. “The recent court decision has not been enforced after all these years of our efforts.”
The Riyadh Governorate received the new complaint by the students and has sent the case to the Ministry of Higher Education to investigate. Students are also upset that their lawyer in the collective lawsuit, Hazzaa Bin Saud Al-Foghom, has allegedly washed his hands of the case, saying his job ended when the ruling was given.
In 2001, Al-Faisal Academy announced a two-year academic program to qualify students as elementary English teachers. The program was affiliated with and sponsored by Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Qasim, where the classes were taught. The program claimed to have been accredited by the Ministry of Education and accepted by Ministry of Civil Service, which is involved with placing public school teachers.
The degrees bear the seal of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University and Al-Faisal Academy.
One student expressed consternation that Al-Faisal Academy isn’t mentioned in the lawsuit. “We have waited for too long for a solution of our problem,” he added.
