BURAIDAH, 19 August 2007 — Sulaiman ibn Abalkhail, rector of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, has promised to find a solution to the English diploma crisis in the near future without outlining a specific time limit or the way his university would settle the issue.
“We are in the right direction toward finding a solution to this problem,” Abalkhail said while speaking on the Al-Ekhbariah news channel. “We are working positively on finding a solution for the 110 students, who obtained a court order,” he said, adding that the rest of the graduates would have to follow regulatory procedures.
Naser Al-Furaidy and Sattam Saleh Al-Awad, two of the graduates, were also invited to the Al-Ekhbariah program, which was aired on Thursday.
Abalkhail said the graduates’ case was valid and important. He also pointed a finger at other parties involved. “There are some missing links in this case which are not indicted and I do not want to name them,” he said.
Other agencies who are involved in the issue are the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Civil Service and Al-Faisal Academy, a private institution that ran the program and whose name was not mentioned in the case trials.
“We are here to find a solution and not look for names of those who are responsible,” Abalkhail said.
As for the delay in carrying out the court order, Abalkhail said that the university does not have a budget assigned for compensations and court payments. “You cannot resolve cases such as this in one day,” he said, adding that the case had started before he took over as the rector of the university.
Sattam Saleh Al-Awad, one of the graduates who was invited on the Al-Ekhbariah program, said, “I was arrested and kept in police custody for one day when I paid a visit to the office of the ex-rector, asking for an explanation why our program was not accredited.”
However, Abalkhail expressed his willingness to receive the students at anytime. “My door is always open to every student at the university,” he added.
The court of grievances in Riyadh ruled last December in favor of the 110 graduates and asked the university to reimburse each student SR25,000 in fees. The students had enrolled to qualify as English teachers in a program that was advertised by the university as accredited by the Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Education. In reality the program was worthless and unrecognized.
The university’s reluctance to obey the court order led students to file a complaint to the Ministry of Interior to enforce the decision. The complaint bureaucratically ended up in the Ministry of Higher Education, the body responsible for Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University.
“I received the report of this case three days ago. We will find a solution to this problem as soon as possible,” Abalkhail said.
