"In the three years that I have been here in the Kingdom as the British ambassador, we have seen a phenomenal increase in the number of Saudis going to the UK for higher education," said Sir William Patey, who met Asharqia Chamber President Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed to open the weeklong event.
"It was 6,000 when I came in, and the number now stands at 20,000, which is quite remarkable."
The ambassador said his country sees this as evidence for further investment for the future.
"I hope to come to the Eastern Province next time and hear Saudis speaking in British accents rather than American," he said amid loud applause.
"It will be great to hear Aramcons speaking with a crisp, British accent."
Stating that British universities were the envy of the world, with several of them ranked in the global top ten, Patey disagreed with the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education's view that the UK was saturated with Saudi students.
"'That is not true,' I told the higher education minister in our meeting recently. We can take many more Saudi students," he said. "Our higher education sector is expanding rapidly."
He agreed that in some British universities there are "lots of Saudis."
"I understand what the minister was referring to. We have clusters of Saudi students -- maybe 900 in Manchester, 700 in Newcastle. Yes, there are certain areas of Britain where there are a lot of Saudi students."
However, Patey said he told the minister of higher education that there were not any Saudi students in Scotland.
"We have millions of places over there, provided the students agree to go to places where there is not a large concentration of Saudis."
In his welcome speech, Al-Rashed said the Saudi-British Business Week, organized by the British Trade Office in Alkhobar, would play a vital role in bolstering trade relations between the two countries in years to come.
He highlighted the possibility of collaboration in the development of Saudi human resources, particularly in the training of Saudi women.
"Our chamber is willing to cooperate with British firms to introduce effective and realistic UK training programs here for the development of a skilled Saudi workforce. Thousands of Saudi students are now studying in various UK universities and training institutions."
More than 60 British companies are presenting at the event along with a cultural showcase. On Tuesday there is a focus on entrepreneurship and Sarah Dawson of SBD Associates will conduct a workshop on leadership skills for businesswomen. It will be an opportunity for participants to discuss and enhance corporate leadership skills.
